A View Of Steem From A Technologist And Why I Used This Pullback To Buy More Steem

As many of you know, I am extremely bullish on Steem and the platform behind it. While I cannot say I am as bullish as @jerrybanfield who put a $1000+ price tag on Steem, I do feel that Steem will eventually head over $100. This creates an opportunity for huge returns.

Last night, I simply could not resist powering up. I added another 500+ Steem to my account. Why did I do this? What makes me so certain that Steem is such a great opportunity at a time when Bitcoin is going through the roof?

To be fully open, I have some bitcoin and am optimistic about that. I do not have the wild dreams of $500K or anything like that. Still, I can see a $25K-$30K price tag on it. To me, long term buyers are going to do well even at the present price levels which are near an all time high.

When looking at the crypto world, it is crucial we understand the underlying technology. The blockchain is revolutionizing many aspects of society. It is still in its infancy yet this is a threat to many industries. The potential for multi-billion companies to be disrupted is great. When people make comparisons to the birth of the Internet, they are not lying. It really can be that big.

Looking at the present state of the blockchain, I discovered that there are only a few platforms which are gaining traction. To me, this is the extreme value that Steem presents.

Of course, in this arena we start with the granddaddy, Bitcoin. This was the first blockchain and is the most well known. Many tokens, like litecoin, are built upon this. The second blockchain is newer yet added the smart contract concept. Ethereum appears to have taken the lead in terms of the platform to release ICOs. These two are clearly the leaders so far. Now, I do acknowledge you have lots of others like Ripple for banking and many institutions setting up their own. However, at this point, most of the notoriety is going towards these platforms.

Which brings me to Steem. The Steem blockchain is not as well known although it is starting to get a bit more publicity the last couple weeks. At present, Steem is the 22nd largest crypto based upon market cap. Overall, that really is not very impressive. However, when you look at the blockchain, you quickly see how it jumps up the list.

Did you realize that more transactions have been completed on the Steem network than on either Bitcoin or Ethereum? Considering the fact that those two platforms are confronted with scaling issues, it is a big advantage to be able to handle larger amounts of transactions. Steem is doing this as I write this article.

The other drawback to those blockchains is that we see significant delays in processing the transactions. I bought my Steem last night with BTC, a move that took over 3 hours. The forks we are seeing in this blockchain are due primarily to the slow nature of processing the transactions and how to fix it. Again, scalability is a major problem for both the bitcoin and ethereum networks. No such problem exists on Steem. Did you notice how quickly money is moved when you convert your Steem to SP or send money to another account? It is instant.

This platform already ate the elephant in the room. Bitcoin and ethereum both are faced with the monumental challenge of how to handle transactions on a large scale. Neither can do it. To give you an example, Facebook built on one of those platforms would require weeks if not months to get paid. Neither network can handle, at the moment, the amount of transactions that would take place on a site like that.

I hope this helps to clarify some of what the excitement is about with Steem. The release of the SMT's only added to the upside potential. This development makes Steem an attractive choice for ICOs. What does this do for the price of Steem? Ultimately, it will send it through the roof. When the new tokens are developed, their value comes from the underlying system i.e. Steem. In other words, Steem are going to be required, at least initially, for the new tokens to have any value whatsoever. This is where the demand comes in. As ICOs start to take place on this platform, Steem will be in demand. This is the hidden gem of it all.

So, the next time you read an article about how Steem will be worthless because the whales are making all the money or that there are only 400K users or whatever attacks you see levied, just ponder for a second what you are sitting on. The Steem blockchain is superior to both bitcoin and ethereum in numbers of transactions processed and speed of processing. Think about that for a second. The blockchain technology is revolutionary and you are operating on one that is, right now, better superior to the two most noted ones out there. For reference, the bitcoin system is presently valued at $80B while ethereum is at $29B. The Steem network is priced at $252M.

Do you see some room for growth?

One final thought. Anyone who wants Bitcoin or Ethereum needs to set up an account on an exchange and buy it. This requires some type of currency to start. There are over 2B people living in extreme poverty i the world, many who are starting to get Internet service via a smartphone. These people do not have money for food let alone bitcoin. That said, do you know how these people go about acquiring Steem? They simply start typing. Steem is one of the few tokens that are earned simply by interacting with the blockchain. That is a massive advantage.

From a technologists standpoint, Steem is a massive opportunity. All need to understand that.

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