one issue we have begun to address is reducing the cost of running Steem nodes. We are happy to report that we have made some progress by already realizing improvements that have enabled us to reduce the number of nodes we are running and the size of the instances. At the same time, we continue to build out a longer term strategy for reducing the size of full nodes and their cost even further.

What this means ?

Just thought of explaining in layman terms about what this is all about. The Steem nodes means various types of Steem API nodes, TESTNET etc which uses a cloud hosting solution from Amazon's AWS.

Instance = a server running under the virtualized environment. (AWS terminology). Essentially its CPU power, RAM, Hard disk and Interconnection.

Instance Size = This means how much CPU, RAM, Storage a server has. Cost increases as the size.

focusing on Hivemind and RocksDB

Some of the Full node functionalities are getting moved to Hivemind.

RocksDB = Almost like an external storage where certain type of data is stored. Technically it is a database. This work is very complicated as code changes are involved. Personally I feel this work will make Steem one of the fastest chains and also increase its use as a general purpose chain.

State of DApps on Steem blockchain

Further, I also want to plug the state of Dapps - built on Steem blockchain and others. The number of people who use the applications built on top of the Steem blockchain is higher if not very large even if we compare the entire public blockchain eco-system. This will eventually bring in real value of the STEEM coin and the Steem blockchain.

References:

1. https://steemapps.com/
2. In Progress: https://www.stateofthedapps.com/rankings

https://dappradar.com/ Gives a comparison of various blockchains and comparing the users of apps with the number of active users from https://steemapps.com/ will give the real picture of blockchain eco-systems and the "intrinsic value" of various chains.