Steem: A Better Foundation

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A house is only as good as the foundation it is built upon.

As I watch some of the events unfolding with Bitcoin and Ethereum, it makes me very grateful to be associated with a blockchain such as Steem.

For those who are unaware, Steem, along with the other Dan Larimer developed chains, are graphene based. They also use Delegated Proof of Stake (DPOS) as opposed to Proof of Work (POW). This gives us a significant advantage over those older systems.

To start, Steem has the ability to handle over 10,000 transactions per second with the potential to bump that to 100,000. This, of course, is just the potential of the technology, not focusing upon the equipment which can alter the results greater. That said, Steemit Inc does appear to be doing some good things in terms of how the data is stored to help the efficiency of the system.

As a contrast, Bitcoin can handle only single digit transactions per second. This means they could have enormous scaling issues. Lightning Network and the arguments (forks) over block size are all a part of this. They are trying to figure out how to handle more.

Ethereum, on the other hand, is going to covert their system to DPOS in the next couple years. They realize the POW method simply is not going to provide enough to make it a viable alternative to the present system. Visa, Mastercard, and PayPal, just in the payments world, handle tens of thousands of transactions per second. EOS, another Larimer project, was built with this in mind.

Over the past year, we hear a great many debates taking place on Steem regarding different topics. At no time, did we see one break out about transaction speed and the ability to scale. All discussion regarding that is concerning the future possibility of having tens of millions of users on this blockchain. Our present capability is not even close to being tested. In fact, the most recent decisions by Steemit Inc regarding how the data is laid down and stored are more about the financial burden than capability.

This places it on a much different level. I believe Bitcoin is fine how it is since I feel the world does need one POW chain. Since Bitcoin does appear to be taking on the "digital gold" aura about it, transaction speed is less important. Also, we do need a place where transactions relating to government documents, for example, can be undertaken for time stamp/ownership purposes.

Outside of that, we need to see chains that have the ability to handle some traffic. I am a big believer in the idea that most of our global economy will end up on blockchain. There are many problems we see around the world that can be solved by this technology. Immutability and transparency are badly needed. It would alleviate a ton of issues.

With this foundatin, Steem offers entrepreneurs and developers an attractive alternative. Being one of the easier blockchains to program since a new language is not required, most developers already have the skills needed to create applications. The same is not true for many of the other blockchains.

We are going to see hundreds of millions of transactions per second on blockchain in the next 5-10 years. Entire networks are going to be converted as we see more of our world converted to the digital realm. Data is only increasing as are the number of users. VR/AR are only going to compound this.

Steem is in the position of figuring out how to take advantage of this. I feel this is a major leg up. Instead of having to fretting about scaling to meet the expected traffic, developers can concentrate on creating those things that are appealing to users. Steem is working on designing the car while those other blockchains are still trying to figure out how to best build the road.

To use a simple analogy, Bitcoin is trying to pump water through a straw while Steem is using a garden hose (EOS is a fire hose). While a straw is only needed at the present time, this will not always be the case. The latest moves are being done to ensure Steem has the most powerful garden hose it can have.

It is up to the rest of us to decide how to use that.

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