Steemit (STEEM)

Steemit is a decentralized digital commerce and social media platform built via a blockchain.
== Overview ==
Steemit is primarily a content sharing platform where users can create text posts or comments on existing posts, upload videos, music, and photos, and vote on other users' content. Steemit's "upvote" system allows users to gain digital assets called STEEM tokens based on the popularity of their posts and comments. Their popularity is quantified by the number of "upvotes" each post or comment receives. New STEEM tokens are minted every day; most of which are distributed to users who receive higher "upvotes," though many go towards the costs of maintaining the platform. STEEM tokens also be used to increase a user's "STEEM Power," which enable users to vote on big decisions that affect the entire platform, such as which of two or more system-wide upgrades to implement when necessary. The more STEEM power you have, the greater your voting power.
Steemit is one of several websites using the STEEM blockchain. Other sites include Busy.org and SteemPeak.com, which are websites similar to Steemit or Reddit.com; DTube, a video sharing platform similar to YouTube.
=== STEEM tokens vs. STEEM Dollars ===
STEEM tokens are the native digital tokens of the STEEM blockchain, and can be exchanged on a number of cryptocurrency exchanges including Binance, Bithumb, BitShares, Bittrex, BlockTrades, Changelly, GOBADA, GOPAX, HitBTC, Huobi, LocalBitcoinCash, Poloniex, Shapeshift.io, UpBit, and Yensesa for other cryptocurrencies, or for fiat currency. STEEM tokens can be used to generate STEEM Power.
STEEM Power (SP) is the means by which a user's influence on the network is determined. The more SP you have, the more say you have on which comments or posts have the most value.
STEEM Dollars (SBD) are stablecoins pegged to the U.S. dollar. Each STEEM Dollar is worth $1. They can be used to buy STEEM tokens.
=== Witnesses ===
Like any blockchain, STEEM requires a distributed network of computers to create new blocks in order to add to the blockchain. While proof-of-work protocols like bitcoin rely on nodes to accomplish this, STEEM uses a delegated proof of stake mechanism instead of proof-of-work. STEEM's community vote on individuals to become "Witnesses," who govern the blockchain and produce new blocks. There are 20 Witnesses, with a backup 21st Witness position shared between multiple individuals to become active or inactive as the needs of the network change. Witnesses are compensated with STEEM power and tokens.
== History ==
Ned Scott, a former financial analyst, and Dan Larimer, who would later go on to create EOS, began collaborating with each other in 2015, seeking to find new applications for blockchain technology. Work began on Steemit in 2017. The STEEM whitepaper was published in 2018. The original concept for Steemit was "a blockchain database that supports community building and social interaction with cryptocurrency rewards."
=== TRON's "hostile takeover" of Steemit ===
In February 2020, Steemit entered into a "strategic partnership" with TRON, resulting in TRON gaining considerable influence over the STEEM blockchain's governance. Witnesses within the Steemit community, concerned that TRON's executives and administrators (including Justin Sun) might have gained too much power over the Steem network, implemented a soft fork (Soft Fork 0.22.2) on February 24, deactivating the voting power of a large number of STEEM tokens owned by TRON and Steemit. On March 2, 2020, Huobi, Binance, and Poloniex allegedly used their collective voting power from STEEM tokens held by the exchanges to undo the soft fork, nullifying the voting power of the Witnesses responsible for the original soft fork in the process. The STEEM Team, which apparently consisted of both Steemit and TRON employees, issued a statement on Steemit's website that called Soft Fork 0.22.2 "criminal and illegal," arguing that the soft fork reversal was necessary in order to keep the "maliciously structured" fork from freezing "a handful of very targeted accounts and taking away their rights and possession to their owned asset." The post said the Witnesses threatened to cause a hard fork that would have nullified existing STEEM tokens, which was "very much against every aspect of the original purpose of decentralization and the core value of the Steem blockchain and community." The post said that the soft fork reversal was necessary to "correct the hostile behavior led by a small group of people," and that Steemit would use its voting rights to "resume the order of the community" for the next 4-6 weeks, after which it would return power to the community.
This caused an uproar in the crypto world, with many accusing Sun of "buying" control of the network for the sake of his own interests. Vitalik Buterin tweeted that it seemed like "the first big instance of a 'de facto bribe attack' on coin voting (the bribe being exchs giving holders convenience and taking their votes)." Changpeng Zhao tweeted that Binance would withdraw its voting stake given the community's response to the event. Multiple app developers announced that they were removing their apps from the Steem blockchain in response to the event.
A few days later, Zhao tweeted an apology to the Steemit community, saying that he thought the TRON takeover was a "regular fork/upgrade." He also said that if the issue was not resolved soon, it would damage the credibility of STEEM, as well as its price.
On March 11, Binance posted a letter to the STEEM community on March 11, 2020, apologizing to the Steemit community. The letter said, "Binance stays neutral and has no interest in on-chain governance beyond the Binance ecosystem. We hold a supportive position of normal upgrade/hard fork and will continue to do so in the future."
=== HIVE === 
On March 20, 2020, members of the Steemit community successfully completed a hard fork on the STEEM blockchain, creating a new community called “HIVE.” Many STEEM holders transferred to HIVE, a new protocol with its own native token, though the process wasn't entirely without incident. The creation of HIVE included an airdrop of HIVE tokens, though some STEEM users claimed they were mistakenly excluded from the airdrop. Canadian mining firm Hive Blockchain sent a cease and desist letter to some of the creators of HIVE, saying that it was intentionally or otherwise, confusing” with their brand. David Jefferys, an ex-director of business development at Steemit and one of the driving forces behind the HIVE hard fork, responded by saying that HIVE isn't a registered company yet, that there was "no time" to register HIVE as an independent company, and that HIVE is "a pure, community-driven, truly decentralized social blockchain project."
== Key People ==
*Ned Scott - CEO, co-founder
*Dan Larimer - co-founder
==References==
Category:Cryptocurrency
Category:DeFi
Category:blockchain
Category:CryptoMarketsWiki