Since its inception in 2016, Steem has established itself as one of the most popular digital currencies in the cryptocurrency markets thanks to the success of the incentivized social media network Steemit, which pays its users in cryptocurrency to contribute to its platform.
In this article, you will find seven key points for comparison between the leading cryptocurrency Bitcoin (BTC) and the popular altcoin Steem (STEEM).
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Bitcoin | Steem |
| Utility | P2P Payments | Reward for Contributing to Steemit Platform |
| Number of Holders | 15 to 25 million | 500,000+ |
| Community | Very Large | Large |
| Market Capitalization | $140 billion | $900 |
| Daily Trading Volume | $10 billion | $100 million |
| One-Year Performance | 700% | 2175% |
| Public Awareness | High | Low |
Utility
Bitcoin was created as a decentralized peer-to-peer payment system that allows users to securely store, send and receive digital money without the need for a financial intermediary. Its purpose is to allow anyone in the world with an Internet connection to "be their own bank".
Steem, on the other hand, provides the same decentralized peer-to-peer payment options as bitcoin (albeit with de facto zero merchant adoption). The main purpose for Steem, however, is not to act as a digital spending currency. Instead, the digital currency Steem is meant to incentivize people to join and contribute to the Steemit social media and blogging platform by posting and curating content for which they are then rewarded in cryptocurrency.
Number of Holders
The user base of bitcoin is estimated to be somewhere between 15 and 25 million holders users worldwide. Steem, on the other hand, has over 500,000 holders, according to Steem blockchain analytics site Steemd.
Community
Bitcoin has by far the largest following in the cryptocurrency space. It is not only the oldest digital currency but has managed to maintain its leadership position for the nine years since its inception, which has helped its community to grow.
Steem also has a large community due to the increasing popularity of the Steemit blogging platform, especially in emerging markets where users are blogging on Steemit to supplement their incomes.
Market Capitalization
The market capitalization of bitcoin was $138 billion at the time of writing while the market capitalization of Steem stood at $900 million. This puts Steem on rank 26 of the largest digital currencies by market capitalization.
Daily Trading Volumes
While daily trading volumes can have quite the range, the bitcoin network currently processes about $10 billion worth of bitcoin trades per day. Steem's daily trading volume volumes are currently around $100 million, according to CoinMarketCap.
One-Year Performance
At the time of writing, the one-year performance of bitcoin stood at 700 percent. The one-year performance of Steem, on the other hand, was 2,175 percent, making Steem the clear outperformer among the two digital currencies in the past twelve months. Go, Steemians!
Public Awareness
The public awareness for bitcoin has become very high as bitcoin became de facto mainstream as an investment asset class in 2017. While Steem is well-known in the cryptocurrency community, public awareness of the Steemit platform and its cryptocurrency is still very low.
The Bottom Line
While bitcoin has historically been a hard investment to beat, Steem is an example of an altcoin that is generating impressive returns and therefore should not be overlooked.
If you want to learn more about altcoins that could potentially add returns to your digital asset investment portfolio, sign up for the Bitcoin Market Journal investor newsletter and read Bitcoin Market Journal to learn to invest like a pro!