Steem is a blockchain-based social media platform similar to Reddit or Facebook that incentivizes users to create and curate content by rewarding them with Steem Dollars. Users can earn Steem Dollars every time they post or curate content.
Steemit Inc. was created in 2016 by Ned Scott and Dan Larimer, an expert blockchain developer. Dan Larimer quit his position as the CTO of Steemit in March 2017 and stopped participating in the project.
Key Steem features:
- Steem is a blockchain platform that rewards users for contributing to the apps deployed on the blockchain
- The network is powered by STEEM, Steem Power and Steem Dollars
- Steemit, the most popular app on the network, takes an innovative approach social media platforms work and allows users to be in control
Steem is generally used to refer to the platform and STEEM to the currency itself. The name was inspired by the word ‘esteem’ coupled with the fact that Steem is a homophone for steam, which is often linked with power.
Steem Dollars (SBD)
The introduction of Steem Dollars was needed in order to create a stable token that is intended to be pegged 1:1 with the U.S. Dollar. SBD experienced a significant spike back in 2017 and touched $14 before dropping down again. Currently, the ‘stable’ token is worth around $1.
Steem Power (SP)
On the other hand, SP is used to show how much power a user has on the Steemit platform. User’s voting power is dictated by the amount of SP they hold. A post or comment will be valued higher if it’s upvoted by someone with a lot of SP.
One of the fundamental differences between Steemit and any other traditional social media platform is the fact that Steemit stores all text inside its Blockchain. There are several benefits of using this technology, for instance, since everything on the Steem lockchain is immutable and cannot be deleted, users can retain ownership of their content forever.
The Steemit social media platform, which is by far the most popular application built on the Steem blockchain, was acquired by TRON founder Justin Sun in early 2020. However, some members of the Steem community were against the acquisition and decided to create a Steem fork called Hive.
Traders can speculatively trade Steem Dollars on various cryptocurrency exchanges like Bittrex, HitBTC and Upbit. STEEM, however, is listed on many more exchanges like the most popular crypto exchange, Binance.