Steem is a blockchain. This is a term that is thrown around which confuses the mainstream.
We also use the term community which is certainly applicable. This denotes there is a group of people who are together for a common purpose.
Personally, I prefer to use the term ecosystem. This entails not only the community that forms but also the different pieces i.e. applications. It is all part of the whole.
We see many ecosystems formed around technology. Facebook, Apple, Amazon, and Microsoft all have ecosystems they leveraged for great financial gain. Over time, the offerings expanded which further increased their revenues.
These entities operate under a centralized, closed system. Patents and proprietary information is the norm. Their goal is to eliminate the competition and take as much away from others as they can. In essence, they look to control their customers so as to gain more down the road.
Blockchain is a peer-to-peer system. This was one of the basic components of what Satoshi designed. What was revolutionary was the fact that, for the first time in history, a network such as this was monetized. With the introduction of cryptocurrency, the entire equation changed.
When adding a monetary component to an ecosystem, we move to the level of creating an economy. That is exactly what is being developed on Steem. Over time, we are going to see more things added which will accept STEEM. In short, just like nations have economies, Steem will have something similar.
Today, we see companies discuss their "online" sales as compared to what is done in the physical stores. Steem is obviously all online which is part of the growing trend. More of our lives is moving to the digital realm.
Some say that Facebook, with the Marketplace, is working on forming an economy. That is true. The main difference is that, on Steem, everything is open. It is not one entity creating what is on there. Here, we have developers creating applications where they are instantly part of the economy AND get to keep all their profits. They are not obliged to share.
Of course, Facebook, along with other entities are looking at adding blockchain and cryptocurrency. I look forward to that day. How is Facebook going to prevent a hack of the honeypot? Is that even possible? Not likely.
What is the crypto saying: if you do not have your keys, you do not own your coins.
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Begin to think of Steem as a country. I hypothesize that most everything that applies to a country will be a part of Steem. Just like national economies are made up of many different businesses, individuals, and projects, so will Steem. We are going to establish means of governance that will evolve over time. Commerce is going to be a part of our daily lives on here with people earning and spending.
There is one main difference: no central banks.
I do not believe it is wise to underestimate the impact of SMTs (and other tokens) that are added to the system. This is akin to states or provinces being able to create their own currency within a nation. This breeds the idea of an ecosystem within an ecosystem. I guess you could say this is a form of specialization. People are going to assemble in tribes around what they know and enjoy. This will further increase the whole as people focus their efforts in those specialized areas.
Remember, this is all voluntary. Nobody is forced into any of this. Essentially, people are going to congregate around their "labors of love".
Not all areas are going to have enormous, thriving economies around it. That is alright. Many tokens will be created and used simply for fun. At the same time, we will see a lot of experimentation. The term "shitcoin" gets thrown around a lot which misses the point. While there are a lot of scams out there, many coins are just representations of ideas. And with ideas, some are really good while others are less than admirable.
At the core of any economy is creation. Economic growth comes from development. That is what we are seeing with Steem. The engines of innovation are starting to power up. We are seeing more applications that will evolve over time. Some are really starting to have an impact in terms of success. As more is added to the pie, our economy grows. Commerce is something that is still lacking yet I am certain it will start to be addressed. A few online stores are accepting STEEM as payment. This will continue as time goes by.
Truthfully, we cannot really imagine what is going to be developed over the next decade. This is something that people are just starting to toy with. Since it is all open, ideas will just start to develop on top of each other. This will accelerate the heights that we attain.
I believe if you look at this from this mindset, you will have a different view of what is taking place on Steem.
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