It is the cryptocurrency on which Steemit is based. It is quite similar to Bitcoin, although a big difference is that the rewards are more for authors and curators than for the creators of currency or miners.
Steem's blockchain is also the basis of other tokens: an asset called Steem dollars that intends to always have the value of an American dollar and that is used as part of the payment to authors and curators. Steem and dollar steem can be bought and sold in the cryptocurrency market.
Steem Power: represents the influence that a user has on the social network compared to the rest of the users of the community and is measured in Steem. It can not be bought or sold but it can be transformed into Steem in a process that lasts 104 weeks. This method is called Powering down. When a new user registers, the platform gives a small amount of Steem power to each member. You can always get more steem power through a process called powering up where the Steem is transformed into Steem power. The more Steem power a user has, the greater the impact of their votes. If the content is voted by someone with a considerable amount of steem power, then the post will be rewarded with Steem, Steem power or steem dollars.
Steem Dollars: the steem dollar is an asset that is always intended to be worth the same as an American dollar. It can be bought and sold in the cryptos market just like the Steem. On the same platform there is an integrated exchange value allowing the exchange of Steem dollars to Steem. This process usually lasts a week. The steem dollars will give an interest of 10% per year if they stay in the platform, but if the steem dollars increase in value exceeding the dollar the interest can be stopped. Conversely, if the steem dollars are changed to a value lower than the US dollar and the amount of them is not very high, then the interest will increase. If the person chooses to convert the steem dollars to steem, there will be three things that he can do with the steem: sell it, use it as a cryptocurrency or convert it to steem power.
