Steemit does not work without any kind of control. Somebody has to approve content and document it.
Who is doing this?
Following the idea of Bitcoin this is done in a decentralized way. Several users called “Witnesses” are doing this task. What exactly is done by witnesses is explained below and how you can become a witness.
Why do we need witnesses?
- Block creation
First and most important, witnesses are documenting every content produced on Steemit. This content (posts, votes, transfers etc) is put in a block and documented in the blockchain. Blocks are produced every 3 seconds. There is one round taking place where 21 blocks are produced by different witnesses. After 63 seconds the cycle starts again. This ensures that different witnesses work on the block creation.
- Consensus
If a new version of Steemit needs to be deployed the witnesses have to agree on it. This is called consensus or DPOS (Delegated Proof of Stake). This means that a new version of Steemit is not pushed and everyone has to use it. The witnesses decide if the new version will be activated on the computers they run (nodes). The agreement rate required is 67%, i.e. at least 13 witnesses have to agree on changes.
Surprised?
Steemit is not controlled by the owners. It is by you!
Why ?
See below, "What can you do to influence a witness".
- Interest rate, Price feed of SBD
A hot topic right now: The setting of an interest rate called APR (annual percentage rate) for your savings. Since the SBD price is falling for a long time several witnesses are pushing to set an APR again. This interest rate should be an incentive for the users to hold their SBD longer. Currently, the interest rate is 0%.
See post from @ausbitbank:
@ausbitbank/steem-dollars-are-currently-only-usd0-73ea-i-m-lifting-my-sbd-interest-rate-to-5
The interest rate is calculated based on the APRs provided by each witness. Different options are considered via the DPOS method and an average is calculated.
This is a great mechanism if you ask me. 😊
For details of all witnesses have a look here:
https://steemd.com/witnesses
You will see also in the list that witnesses also maintain the price feed for the Steem/SBD conversion rate.
What can you do to influence a witness?
Everything.
You are voting the witnesses. Every user has 30 votes to elect a witness. Based on the voting the witness can rise under the top 19 and become one who is heavily influencing Steemit.
Most of the top 19 witnesses are the ones, which are doing a lot on Steemit and for the users.
If you have not voted yet or it is a long time ago. Please check and vote now:
https://steemit.com/~witnesses
Can I become a witness?
Short answer: Yes, you can.
You have to setup a server and take part on the Steem Network.
To become an active witness (top 19) you have to interact with the community to get the votes you require.
For further details please have a look here:
Posted by @steemed
@steemed/become-a-steem-witness-essentials
Are witnesses earning/mining Steem?
Witnesses (top 19) are earning one Steem Power per generated block. A pure mining of Steem is not possible. Due to the round sharing of blocks only roughly one block every minute is generated per witness.
Do I miss something important?
A visual summary of our learnings today and of the previous posts:
Previous posts in this series:
"#1 Steem Power"
"#2 Steem Dollar"
"#3 What users can do on Steemit"
"#4 How to make profit on Steemit?"
Do you have questions?
You like the post? Feel free to comment and upvote and resteem.
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