A Quick'n Dirty Summary

Dear friends,

Last Saturday's Crypto Growth Forum on MSP-Waves included a prominent panel of Steemit Witnesses:

@jesta, @timcliff, @blocktrades, @pharesim, @lukestokes. @elear,
Steemit Inc. representative @andrarchy
and amazing listeners such as @r0nd0n, @swelker101, @kittiegirl and @rainsa.

Thank you everyone for your time and explanations.

One of the things that both @lukestokes and @timcliff stressed was the need for educating users better - and that this wasn't just the duty of Steemit Inc. alone, but every Steemit account holder should take personal responsibility for educating themselves and others.

For us 'regular users', it can seem intimidating to delve into Whitepapers or Bluepapers of STEEM, Smart Media Tokens and so forth. Let me assure you, the Bluepaper on STEEM is a breeze to read, and it's only seven pages of easy to understand concepts that, when read, helps to understand the STEEM engine underneath the hood.

Thanks to the panel session, I am much better aware of the ins and outs of Steemit, why the SBD should be pegged to the USD and how the future of STEEM can affect every single Steemit user significantly - if we make it happen. I won't recount the Panel Broadcast, you can listen to it and read the transcripts listed at the bottom of this post.

In this post I would simply like to draw your attention to the short STEEM Bluepaper. It is well written and gives a better understanding of the STEEM concept. It also made me curious about the Whitepapers - which I shall tackle as well, both on STEEM and on Smart Media Tokens, which are an amazing opportunity for community growth and increased wealth for everyone actively participating.

So, let's get to it:

STEEM Bluepaper

Introduction

The Introduction gives a simple overview of the STEEM concept, it's scaleability, advantages over other blockchain concepts - and it lays the foundation of why it is a better choice than any other blockchain platform and crypto currency at this time.

Proof of Brain...

Now, that sounds odd. All it means is that STEEM is based on brainpower created content as opposed to mining efforts through sheer computing power, as is the case with Bitcoin for example.

Rewards Pool

That's where we get our rewards from. It's often misunderstood, as the paper states, so, here it is clarified. What percentage of the pool is distributed to whom and when. How do STEEM tokens derive their value? What is the supply? How is it created? All in human language, easily explained.

Rewards...

for content creators and curators who add value through content and the collective wisdom of the community. Easy!

Voting Stakes

If ever in doubt how voting power is determined, its logically explained in this short paragraph. It also becomes clear why we have a 13 week power down (withdrawal) of STEEM, and why this is a good thing.

Speed and Scale

No worries, you don't have to be a blocknerd to understand this. Bottom line: STEEM is achieving many more transactions than Bitcoin at an unsurpassed speed in the crypto world.

DPoS

Oh now now, this doesn't sound good.
No problem here either. It's a three paragraph explanation of how STEEM is generated through new blocks every three seconds. And once that becomes clear, the role of witnesses also make better sense to the unititiated.

Chainbase & AppBase

These are advanced databases. And the short paragraphs give a better understanding what they do. All makes sense. BTW, Bitcoin and Etherum, or Litecoin, nope, they don't have that.

STEEM's Platform Features

What is STEEM? It s both, crypto tokens and a social media platform.

Primitives Designed for Content Applications

Big words for simple understanding: STEEM was designed for different types of content on the blockchain that can be accessed and interacted with through the blockchain.

Native Name System

It simply means, you can transfer your STEEM based tokens by just using your user name. Bitcoin and other cryptos use long and unmemorable Wallet addresses. Now, what's better?

SBD

Designed for commerce. A logical explanation, yes it's right here.

Decentralized Exchange

Oh yes, we can trade STEEM and SBD on a peer to peer market.

Payments through Escrow

Ever used eBay to order something and not receiving the product? It happened to me. Once. Escrow services allow a transaction to be finalized when both parties agree to it via an agent. It's not complicated. It's cheap insurance.

Hierarchical Private Key Structure

All these private keys. And some are hidden, some are not? This brief section makes it crystal clear even to the novice user.

Multi-Sig Authorities

What when more than one individual needs access to an account? What if a decision to make an transaction requires the approval of more than one? That's what this functionality is for.

Multiple Reward Beneficiaries

Now here is another amazing feature. What if an article was authored by more than one and the reward needs splitting. Easy with STEEM.

Stolen Account Recovery

Safeguarded and yet recoverable, my account? Yes. An innovative approach.

Security Through Time-Locks

Ever heard of that bank safe that has a time-lock and can only be opened after a specific time has passed? Enough time to put a stop to bank robbers and retrieve your goodies. That's what this is talking about - sort of.

Bandwidth Rate Limiting for Fee-less Operations

Fair use of the network resources based on someone's stake. A car with more SteemPower is allowed to use a wider section of the freeway. All explained here in simple terms.

Conclusion

STEEM is unique. It's trailblazing technology, it's better. Yet, it's for mainstream users. It's the future.

Go ahead, have a read. I found it actually interesting and exciting. I fully believe that we are part of something really amazing here - so lets learn more about it. It's at our fingertips.

Useful Links

Transcript Hour 1
Transcript Hour 2
STEEM Bluepaper
SMT Whitepaper
STEEM Whitepaper

Thank you for reading.

_{Proud Supporter of PAL and the - The Minnow SupportProject

_{Christopher "The Hat" Hatfield @globocop}}

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STEEM Bluebook - An Appetizer