The world cryptocurrency market now exceeds US $ 270,000 million, with Bitcoin in the lead since its birth, now followed by more than 1,600 alternative digital currencies, which make up a universe of possibilities from which investors can choose to structure their digital asset portfolio. Steem cryptocurrency is one of them.
Launched two years ago by Daniel Larimer, founder of Bitshares and now CTO of Steem, and Ned Scott, who was a financial analyst in the import giant Gellert Global Group and current CEO of the present startup, Steem (STEEM) is a decentralized virtual currency , which runs on the Steem block chain, and which powers Steemit social networks and a blog platform.
Let's start with Steemit
Steemit is a platform for creating content and social networks similar to Reddit, which was created with the purpose of financially rewarding the creators and curators of online content. The incentive is granted in the form of digital currencies, for which the platform has the STEEM cryptocurrency.
With a user base of more than 500,000 people, harvested in just under two years, Steemit has captured adherents of all kinds and varied interests, particularly among cryptocurrency enthusiasts in emerging market countries, who find it very attractive to be financially gratified by the content contributions they make to the platform.
When setting up an account in Steemit, the user will have access to three different digital coins in their Steemit wallet, which are: Steem (STEEM), Steem Power (SP) and Steem Dollars (SBD).
STEEM
Steem (STEEM) is the digital currency on which the Steemit network is based. Unlike Bitcoin, which can be mined by specialized equipment, STEEM is created daily by the block chain Steem, which assigns most of the tokens to a reward fund, from which the coins used to pay Steemit users come. for the content created and displayed on the platform.
Steem can be used on the Steemit platform to obtain Steem Power (SP) through a process called "on", or to buy Steem Dollars (SBD). In addition, Steem, like most cryptocurrencies, can also be used to make digital payments on an equal basis.
In addition to Steemit, there are other sites and social networks that support STEEM, such as Steepshot, Busy.org, DTube and Utopian.io.
Currently, Steem is valued at US $ 1.65, has a market capitalization of US $ 434,600,447 and is ranked 31st in the CoinMarketCap classification. Its daily trading volume is close to US $ 7 million.
Steem Power
Steem Power (SP) is the internal currency of the Steemit platform and can not be traded in digital currency exchanges. Basically, it has two functions: it gives the owners more influence in the platform when evaluating ("upvote") the contributions of other users (the more SP you have, the more your vote weighs) and pays dividends for having it, so that users are not particularly interested in getting rid of them.
Steem Dollars
Steem Dollars (SBD) are promissory notes that are worth a dollar in STEEM tokens when they are cashed. They are, to put it in some way, like the "stablecoin" of Steem associated with the value of the United States dollar. And, effectively, in this way it is possible to avoid that the token be affected by the volatility in its exchange rate, allowing users to receive a stable incentive, independent of the market price of Steem.
The holders of Steem Dollars have the option to save them to obtain a 10% annual interest on them, can convert them to Steem and then sell and switch to fiduciary currency, or convert to Steem Power, if they wish to follow a long-term investment strategy .
The current price of SBD is US $ 1.31 and shows a market capitalization of US $ 20,079,066, ranking 292 of the CoinMarketCap classification.
Where are they negotiated?
Both STEEM and Steem Dollars (SBD) can be traded on cryptocurrency exchange platforms. STEEM appears in the lists of Binance, Bittrex, Poloniex, Huobi, UpBit, HitBTC and others. Steem Dollars can be traded in the exchanges mentioned, with the exception of Binance and Huobi.
Creators and curators of content have taken advantage of the opportunity that Steem offers to monetize their contributions, cryptocurrency enthusiasts and advocates of decentralization support it as another innovative expression of an ecosystem that is expanding rapidly.
The well-gained popularity of the platform has given Steem an advantage, however, the current value of the token in no way does it justice. Certainly, the creation of useful and entertaining content is not an easy task, and the numbers of sites like Reddit, which show more than 1.600 million visits, make these new initiatives pale.
However, the demand for good content on the Internet does not stop growing, and if we add this to the unstoppable advance of the global phenomenon of cryptocurrencies, we will have in Steem, Steem Power and Steem Dollars a winning triple, whose future is as promising as that of new digital world in the making.