Even though it looks very similar, Steem is different in many ways to most other coins out there in the market place. The reason it is different is that owning Steem is stake in much more than a currency, it is stake in a community and with it comes responsibilities.
The way Steem appreciates or depreciates in value is through demand and supply, just like any other coin however, the way it is created is a fundamental part of the system. It is created through content, well technically, it is created through upvoting content, our content and the fastest and most efficient way to distribute it is through upvoting widely and creating many nodes of various sizes who are willing to do the same. It is a giving coin, a Musketeer coin as I have said before.
But, just handing it out randomly is not going to be the way to build the system and utility of the coin for the future as random owners make it the same as every other coin. This is why people talk about quality of content so much here and hate spam. I am yet to meet a long-term thinking spammer here and, I have seen many.
What will drive the price up significantly is enough people wanting influence in the system which means, Steem power being held and restricting the supply on the market place but, it is not good enough for this to only be the whales as it is too risky as there is too much reliance on too few. Having a healthy middle-class of Steem holders is the way to go.
A middle class is important as they have the money to both spare to spend and save and the same is true here. A healthy middle class will feed both the whales and a massive amount of minnows and red fish, whilst distributing and still earning and locking some up in Steem power. Currently, there is not enough middle class here by a huge amount.
The problem is though, it is very difficult to become middle class without a huge amount of work, massive luck or buying (most likely a combination of all three) in which currently is very expensive. If middle class is around 40k SP, that has a value of ~160,000 US dollars and if someone in the real world has that money to invest into Steem, they aren't middle class in the real world.
This means that the road to middle class is long. VERY LONG. But, the more people that make it, the more people that will be able to make it as they will be able to support each other along that path. it is a spiralling system that corkscrews nodes upwards whilst distributing via centrifugal type force.
Currently though, creating the first middle class is the responsibility of the whales as they are the ones with the power to do so at the moment. We can see how quickly a middle classer can be made with one whale with Haejin who has 54K SP and joined in June 2017.
Imagine if he had actually powered up his 22,000 SBD a week earnings instead of selling them? Imagine if instead of flagging the critics, he used it to show some gratitude to the platform that made it possible and support the many, many, many users who would make this platform better for the future? His future too. To me, he is definitely not someone who cares about Steemit in the long-term, he is a cut and run artist taking all he can while there is so few willing to oppose him.
Now, with a thriving middle-class, the responsibility to handle such things gets spread much wider than it is currently and it would only take a handful to restrict such accounts to some kind of fair amount. Why would they do this though? Because it is in their best long-term interest to share the majority of value to the majority of people as it drives the value of Steem upwards and since they have bought in and done the work, they want to protect their investment.
And here is a problem. Those truly interested in the future of the platform and are willing to put their necks out are also the ones who are supporting the growth of the nodes who will make that future possible. That means, when it is them who must flag, they are unable to support the nodes simultaneously an, there is a lot of bad behaviour to combat at all levels of the system.
They have been talking about the distribution of the Steemit account holdings and there are many ideas going around. Well, here is another that I haven't fully thought through yet but, use it to develop the middle class through delegation but, don't do it randomly, instead, make the receivers into node businesses.
Steemit backed loans
I will use someone like myself as an example (again rough thinking so far) as I am already pretty invested here and have hopefully shown that I am a long-term thinker and actor within the community. There are many more similar to me. This would have to be thought out at a technical level also but bear with me for the immaturity of it.
I have 17K SP and middle class is 40K. I have a long way to go.
What if Steemit delegated a significant amount to accounts that qualify under certain provisions such as (and only for example at this point):
3 x 100% self-votes per day
7 x 100% value to the community
50% of liquids earned must be powered up (there must be some available to use)
No voting on alt accounts
A board to investigate actions
If found scamming, vote-trading/selling etc, the delegation is withdrawn and Helsing steps in for every post, comment to come and any future earning potential is severely restricted.
When the account hits 40K the delegation is withdrawn and given to others who are willing and able to be community nodes also (perhaps under mentors of the past delegation). This could work on some scale either side of the boundaries and for some period of time until which it is no longer necessary and it can be scaled back.
After the 40K is reached though, the account must continue under the same guidelines as when receiving the delegation until say, 50K is reached. That means that the account must still engage with the community heavily or risk destruction via Helsing. There has to be a future cost to the benefit.
Of course, this idea must come with many checks and balances that perhaps some of the technical people could work upon but, it would essentially build a very strong middle class quickly with people who are engaged, engaging, already heavily invested and already proven as community and Steem supporters. It would also be rewarding them for being loyal, honest and active.
Plus, it encourages anyone else on the platform that may be close to the 15K threshold to push harder and engage better for a chance at the delegation knowing that if they qualify, they are tied to it for a period of time.
Essentially, it would be a Steemit business loan where the repayment is to the community, not Steemit itself.
Now, if I had access to this, what would I do with it? Well, I would be going out of my way to reach the 40K and then 50K as soon as possible because I don't like debts but, I would also be targeting those people who I believe are community builders or potential community builders, those with great content, those who are powering up instead of down and a whole range of people who add more value than they extract. I would try to bring a few of them up both in SP and behaviour to the point where when I reach the 40K, they can take my Steemit delegation from me and help build others also.
There are many risks, caveats and thinking required for this but, rewarding the invested community thinkers by giving them loans under provision will accelerate the distribution of Steem massively and very widely if designed well. The delegations of the past have often been used poorly by those that have received them and very greedily in many cases but, the idea is solid as we can see the potential of fast account growth. It is just a pity about how they used it.
Again, this idea is just in its infancy of my mind but I hope that a few of the bigger fish look into possibilities that use or run off of this. I also Hope that the biggest fish really, really look at the pros and cons of my Helsing idea to combat poor behaviours.
This might be a ludicrous idea but perhaps it can build a much, much better one with a little lateral thinking from people who really are looking long.
Taraz
[ a Steemit original ]