The Future Of Steem: This Is Why There Will Be Tens Of Millions Of Users

In my articles, I do my best to give people a glimpse into some of the possibilities of the future.

Here I want to share with you the real possibility of Steem and give evidence by what is already possible. Many buy into FUD or create it by focusing upon how things are now. Developers are continually banging away at code which, with the exception of Microsoft, tends to fix bugs and overcome problems.

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We know that the Smart Media Token protocol is set to go live in March of 2019. This is going to turn Steem into a coin factory. Suddenly, there will be the ability to have thousands of coins created for any type of project out there. Even individuals can create their own coin if desired.

I think one of the most overlooked points is the Smart Media Token protocol turns each token created into a "mini-STEEM". Hence, it operates just like STEEM does with the same features that are offered on the blockchain.

This is the golden nugget that will eventually benefit tens of millions of people.

When many think about the Steem blockchain, it comes back to posting, commenting, and upvoting. This is core of the Steem ecosystem. The challenge is people are limited by their thinking. To many, it is blogging or basic social media activity. This outlook is too narrow.

Here is an example of what is possible right now and what the potential could be.

Last night I went for a walk. This is something that millions of people do everyday after work. People like to get some exercise and unwind after a long day. Those are wonderful benefits to getting off the sofa and doing a bit of exercise.

The difference with me is there was financial benefit too.

On my walk, I had the @actifit application going. Last night I was able to walk over 5K steps which earns AFIT (actually I walk for someone else so I don't get the tokens). With the new payout system, I am not sure what that earns exactly but more AFIT will go into the account.

During the walk, I took a couple pictures. Since I wrote an article yesterday afternoon about @dlike's Android app, I downloaded it to test. Again, I used another person's account to help her get more tokens, but those two pictures I took were posted using the @dlike application. The app worked well and those posts are worth, at the moment, 20 dlike apiece. Hence, on the walk, 40 dlike were earned.

Another way this walk was of financial benefit is because both those applications upvote out of their main accounts. This means that @actifit will upvote the post earning STEEM and SBD. @dlike upvotes posts randomly I think so there is no guarantee either of my posts will be upvoted but it is possible.

In addition to those accounts, others upvote the posts earning a bit of STEEM and SBD.

There is another project on Steem that focuses upon one's Health and Wealth. @air-clinic is also seeking to go the SMT route once it is available. I wrote about this a while back, downloaded the application, and did a bit on it. Last night, while walking, I opened up the application to read an article. While walking, I read and commented on it, earning myself 2 @air-clinic coins (I am not sure what they call them).

Just like the other posts, my comment is eligible for upvote which could net me some STEEM.

Naturally, since all of these applications are going to use SMT, they have no market value assigned to them at the moment. That will not be the case in 6 or 7 months.

There were other things on my walk which could have made me some money.

If I had a photo taken of me picking up some trash on my walk this could get me paid. @cleanplanet is another expected SMT that rewards people for cleaning up their neighborhood. Again, since it is not released, there is no token but a post could get upvotes.

Filming a video and posing it to @dtube would get me more STEEM. @dtube is upvoting some content on that application which is a significant upvote. Hence, there could be a decent payout.

Once again, both these projects are expected to have their own coins meaning one could get paid in them also if they were available.

If I had an Instagram account, using @share2steem would post the pics, or whatever I put on that app, to Steem, thus enabling me to potentially earn rewards. Not to sound like a broken record but do not be surprised if this is a SMT at some point.

What I described is possible right now. I named 6 or 7 applications which could net me either their own tokens AND STEEM/SBD or, if they don't have that, just STEEM/SBD. As I said, I would say most, if not all of these, will have their own tokens in the Spring. This means my walk could have brought in about 8 different tokens when STEEM/SBD are included.

If we want, we can throw in few @steepshot pics too. Or APPICS.

Are you starting to see the pattern?

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What is possible in the future?

People often like to listen to music while walking. Perhaps there will be a day when we see a decentralized Pandora on the Steem blockchain. Get paid to listen to music.

My data is worth something. Will there come a time when I have a fitness band that gathers all my information which is sold for tokens to a medical research lab. Or perhaps the insurance industry will be compiling the data for research into how to access risk with more concise data.

Ever hear of Proof of Volunteering? Why can't that be on the Steem blockchain. Perhaps my walk is done as a volunteer project, let's say at risk children or isolated senior citizens. Volunteering my time and posting a "proof post", using @dlike, could earn me some volunteer coins.

Instead of just walking, maybe I turn it into a walking meditation, concentrating on each step and focusing upon each part of my body. Becoming one with my surrounding, I see how all is intertwined and the entire cosmos is contained in a blade of grass. I do a post about this and earn the @tribesteemup token (TRIBE?). Since I post it in the esoteric section, @flauwy's 1UP tokens are earned.

During my blissful meditative walk, I become one with everything, include a car backing out of the driveway, right into me. Suddenly, my wallet is filled with LEGAL coins from every ambulance chaser (lawyers for those outside the US who don't know that phrase) within 50 miles who wants my case. It is a good thing I read the @air-clinic article and have those tokens for my medical care.

In all seriousness, this is some of the potential we are looking at. Millions of people will have the opportunity to do the same thing, in many different areas of their lives. As you can see, even a simple walk could turn into 10 different tokens within the next year.

I did not even get into the @dlux-io AR/VR scenario which is working to lead the way into the tokenized/upvote economy. Maybe the shoe manufacturer put chips in my sneakers which monitor the number of steps I take. They pay me for every 100K steps taken because they need to know how many steps their shoes get before they wear out since we compare shoes based upon price per step (like price per ounce in the supermarket). This is all done automatically using the @dlux-io platform with my payment coming via an upvote on a comment on the post announcing each 100K steps.

This is the value of the SMT protocol: It creates "mini-STEEM" ecosystems.

It gives us scenarios where the possibilities are endless. I write this article in October of 2018 with a handful of applications on the Steem blockchain. What do you think I will be able to come up with in October 2020 when there are thousands of applications each with their own tokens? What are you going to be able to come up with?

I hope this provides some clarity as to what is already here and some of the possibilities that we could see. Keep in mind this is just one person thinking of some things off the top of my head. The possibilities will far exceed this when there are thousands of people thinking up different projects. I bet we could get a fair list going in the comment section alone.

That is just a glimpse into what Steem can offer.

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