Ten years ago a white paper came out that changed the world. At the time, few latched onto it. However, a decade later, we are starting to see the power behind what Satoshi Nakamoto created.
Many think that this white paper introduced the world to Bitcoin. It did that but it unleashed something so much more powerful.
To explain this, we need to determine what Bitcoin is.
Many will refer to the blockchain stating that was the revolutionary aspect to all this.
If we look at what a blockchain is, we see it is a peer-to-peer network that is secured by cryptography which records the transfer of information i.e. an accounting ledger.
The challenge with this is none of these things were new in 2008. Peer-to-peer networks had been around; remember Kazaa and Limewire? Cryptography was also not a new creation dating back long before 2008. And the distributed ledger system was used by IBM in the 1970s.
This shows how blockchain, alone, is not a game changer. In fact, the ability to create blockchains was around long before 2008. To go one step further, blockchain is not the best method of record storage in most instances. Today, most items are better off being on a shared database that is faster and less expensive to run.
So what is it about Bitcoin that made it so revolutionary?
This is where the other aspect of the discussion comes into play. Bitcoin is also a cryptocurrency. This is simply information that is transmitted from one person to the next. In other words, just a file similar to the a music or video file. The challenge comes from the idea of a file being reproduced. A peer-to-peer network is nothing more than an enormous copy machine. This is great if you want to send an excel spreadsheet to Sarah and John. It reduces friction, speeds things up, and is less costly.
The challenge is that cryptocurrency added a component to peer-to-peer systems that did not exist before. It monetized them. Whereas Kazaa and Limewire did not have the monetary component, the Bitcoin network does. Hence, the reproduction of a file that is money is problematic. This situation was solved by the implementation of mining.
No more double-spending problem.
Therefore, the answer to the above question is a monetized peer-to-peer system via cryptocurrency is what is so revolutionary. That is what is the game changer.
It also shows how both aspects are required. You cannot have one without the other.
Why not you ask?
Because of what Satoshi ultimately created. It was not Bitcoin, per se, that is the major development. Rather, Satoshi invented crypto-economics with Bitcoin being the first system.
And this is why what many entities are promoting is nothing more than a marketing ploy.
Crypto-economics is an entirely new system. It is revolutionary and will, ultimately, replace the present global economic system. We have an open, decentralized, peer-to-peer system which has a monetary component built into the framework of the ecosystem. It is without borders, outside the control of any nation, and cannot be shut down. There is no single point of access to attack it.
This is what makes it so powerful.
It is also why I am convinced that STEEM will be one leaders going forward.
STEEM is a crypto-economic system. Like Bitcoin, it has all the same components. Yet there are some major advantages.
We are at the early stages. Many want to compare STEEM to a corporation. That is not a correct analogy. A better correlation is to a nation. STEEM is an economic system just like any country. At present, it is very young. As time passes, we are going to see the economy grow as more businesses are established and people start to engage in commerce.
When looking at an economy, it is crucial to have transaction costs as low as possible. This is where STEEM excels. The direct transaction costs on STEEM is zero.
Think about what the United States would look like if there were no transaction costs at all. Merchants would not have to pay a percentage of their sales to MC or Visa. Companies would not have to pay a fee to pay their employees. Wire transfer fees would be gone. People could send money to family members anywhere around the world for nothing.
Of course, the "nation" of STEEM is borderless and without physical limitation. It is available to anyone around the world. This makes it a global entity without having to wage war or conquer other nations. It also is attractive to those who are in the poorer countries since the existing financial and economic structure surpassed them.
And best of all, there is no taxation.
We are now beginning to see talk that STEEM is not going to operate as a standalone "nation". This "country's" crypto-economy is going to be tied to others. Think of expansion through globalization without having to expand. Being part of the Bitshares-STEEM-EOS coding is motivating people to work on interoperability among the blockchains. This will provide cross-chain applications which will expand the reach of any business build in this sphere.
In other words, this crypto-economy might well be coupled with others to grow even bigger.
STEEM is a great deal more than just a social networking blockchain. We have the foundation in place for a very powerful economy to be constructed here. People are already starting to erect businesses and be a part of this "nation". As the population grows, we will see more innovative ideas which will spur further growth. It is a vicious, upward trending cycle.
In the end, STEEM might not be the United States or China of the digital economy. That said, it will be far from Chile or Vietnam too. If it is ultimately tied into EOS, STEEM has the chance to be Canada, an economy that is thriving because it is tied to something bigger than itself.
My view is that we are going to see a complete disruption of the present global economy over the next 10-15 years. Most of what we see today will be eliminated if it does not adapt. Technology is simply moving too fast for these companies. As we transition away from centralization, which will happen over time, we will see these crypto-economies take up a larger chunk of the global commerce pie.
The established entities are aware of this. It is why we see so much FUD surrounding this industry. The entire economic system is being uprooted and replaced with something else. This makes what is presently in place obsolete. Nevertheless, they are going to hang on as long as they can. They keep going back to the same playbook.
Only this time, there is a much more powerful alternative out there that they cannot control.
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