This is written partly as a response to Simon De La Rouviere's essay with the same title, pondering about the possibilities of empowering individuals with tools to launch and operate their own cryptocurrencies. The hypothesis is that with a strong concept and backing, the value of any currencies will only be matter of individuals generating network effects through social means. But that write-up was way back in 2014. Looks like he's now mainly in the Ethereum community. I believe that everyone will have their own cryptocurrency in the future, but will the token itself be easy to use and more importantly, social? So here I am, writing this little post to paint a story of the near future.
The unicorn of social networks.
Unicorns are mythical creatures, said to be worth a minimum of $1 billion by Silicon Valley standards.It's the year 2018, and flying cars are still nowhere to be seen. Not even the less but still lofty claims made by most ICOs and cryptocurrency projects. But Steem's Smart Media Tokens are here. With a minimum of $1.00, anyone can now conveniently create their own cryptocurrencies to share their values, and maybe have the chance to grow their social networks beyond the initial investment.
Never before in the history of mankind has this been possible. While Steem is entirely free-to-play as a blockchain-based social media platform, it now boasts a low-premium option that enables anyone to create their own Steem-like currency if they so desire. None of the traditional platforms out there like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter has ever been able to get a dime out of their most frequent users, let alone provide tools for anyone to create their own cryptocurrencies.
New kids on the block.
Hanging out with my wannabe Yakuza family back in the old days. We could have opened up our third eye with SMTs.SMTs are here to turn everyone into unicorns, investing and putting value into their own currency and community. Silicon Valley bigwigs must be scratching their heads, wondering what is going on. Little do they know that Steem's Smart Media Tokens are on its way to becoming intimately synonymous with social network accounts.
If you find yourself using a smartphone, interacting with online communities on daily basis, there's just no reason not to have your own cryptocurrency. Since you are most likely to be the largest stakeholder of your own currency, it will effectively represent your values, and you would want that distributed to those that you love interacting with. It's like being an employer, your own boss.
With the potential of 1 billion unicorns signing up to optionally create the minimum of $1 communities, Steem is poised to becoming the mother unicorn of social media networks as it grows. And that may only be a conservative estimation. This does not even account for larger investors and collectives that may attempt to bootstrap larger communities and economies, storing more and more of their value into the collaborative commons. Scalable and parallel, expect millions and maybe billions of currencies running, distributed, and traded on the Steem platform 24/7. This is all possible with the convenience of automated market makers and intuitive social media user experience provided by the protocol. Just post and vote like you would in any other traditional spaces.
Get the word out there.
Spread the word that Steem is awesome. It's true and no exaggeration is required. Try it out!Like any transformative technologies, it will still require good information and communication to spread the word effectively, especially with so many distractions around in the 21st century. Steem celebrates collaboration through the sharing of value creation. There's really no place better platform to build anyone's network. First with Steem, and later by backing their own individual SMTs to share their values with the world.
If you've been thinking about the things that you will do to build on the network if you have enough Steem Power, Smart Media Tokens represent an opportunity for anyone to be the masters of their domain through their own social currency or SMTs. For one, I'd be spending a lot of time exploring and experimenting with SMTs. Happy to have achieved 6000+ followers now, and for this milestone I've just dedicated more to my Steem Power, confident that the future of SMTs will be as ubiquitous as smartphones, social networks, and the individuals that inhabit in them. It's an industry that I want to play a part in building.
When Steem-based interfaces begin to include a paid option during and after account creation for anyone to launch their own cryptocurrencies on the get-go, this Steem unicorn may start to fly over rainbows. The best technologies are usually invisible in nature, which is why I think cryptocurrencies through the low-barrier adoption and social operation of SMTs may end up being the winner as more specialised forms of capital starts flowing in. In the future, each and everyone of us will be expressing ourselves through a web of SMTs that we subscribe to, running and distributing in the background. As usual this not to be taken as financial advice, just my own thoughts and actions.
Before you go, check out @ned's recent video on SMTs. Thank you for reading!
My take written by me on steemit: https://steemit.com/bitcoin/@greenman/all-cryptos-are-the-same-and-you-need-to-get-in-now-because-they-are-extremely-low-priced-for-the-invention-of-computational
@greenman Sir, you are a man of much better mind.
I'll now look at all your posts from now.
I'm a new member of Steemit
@greenman I am impressed what STEEMIT can do for itself, the crypto community and the world. If Neds and the developers actions are launched, steemit will probably reach the top 8 of the cryptos and has the power to disrupt current systems, get the government and banks out of the way, give freedom and help the start of creating the biggest redistribution of wealth ever in the history of the world. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Upvoted your comment too. @gold84
I went to your profile and read your article.
You could post a bit more :)
Thanks. I don't follow many to keep my account lean I also don't resteem much to avoid clutter on my blog.
GOOD
I'm a Unicorn and I am Going to the Moon! Resteemed
LOL literally flying over the rainbow
Can I grab a ride?
What a great article painting the future. I like your view of the possibilites and therotical happenings.
For me it looks like that we are looking for the next GAFA, but with the difference that everyone can participate and try something.
I am also thinking about developing an own coin.
What i would find interesting is a coin that would be like the FIFA. For the Soccer world a huge community with an integration in the EA Games that you can mine them within the game. Similar to Minecraft and Dogecoin.
This whole thing is so exciting and the future is unknown. :)
You are right...that would be huge.
It is the most popular sport in the world and would be a way to instantly unite all 1B+ fans all over the globe....well until the start of the match that is.
Exactly :)
This must be done!^^
You certainly found a big pond to fish in there going after the soccer/football people.
I think you are dealing with over 1/7th the world population.
I was also thinking about it, this math should be right.
But the way to make something like that happen, puhhhhh.
better to keep it simple first :)
Of course my friend.
This is just a vision and every vision needs to be started simple ^^
Great stuff, I watched an awesome video today discussing the same.
Inspired me to do my own SMT use case post too :)
Great share! Yeah I guess some of us are trying to express the possibilities, but in practice there'd be plenty of experimenting and failing
Oh for sure! Has to be worth a shot though: AsherToken, AsherTokentoomuch more like it!
Just what I need to burst my self confidence bubble. Watching my own cryptocurrency go unnoticed and stay worthless haha. Way to invest in those unicorns too lol. I just powered up 600 steem, not quite as significant as yours but its a start!!
No matter what, at least PUFF tokens are real and will continue being distributed!
Yes, that's right, the Puff token distribution plan is to distribute tokens as widely as possible to as many network users as possible, so anyone who joins the network site can easily and immediately participate in network activities.
LOL Yes I can appreciate that.
Looking at the list of coins on coinmarketcap only to realize I am in the last 100 of the 7B people on this planet.
My coin is just ahead of OJ Simpson.
I see a bunch of minnows saying, If you buy mine, I'll buy yours; and at the end of the day it balances out to zero growth. (lol)
Let us collectively stand in faith believing for a solution to this obviously critical dilemma for keeping Steemit and STEEM afloat.
Peace.
follw me please i will give you upvotes
Upvote to me also...
Awesome article and I think you are painting a future picture that is true. There is no seeing how far this will go.
Since the news of SMT I have felt the whole network starting to boil and many people are coming up with different ideas of how to use the SMT.
Most ideas are however based on some kind of community platform solution, which is a bit different from what you are talking about.
You are taking it even a step further and I think it will develop to this point. It might take a bit longer I assume but I can definitely see that happening.
Alright I have to start designing my logo for my own coin gtg!
Btw if you make a coin can I buy some Kevin Dollars from you ?
Haha im still thinking about how individual tokens should be structured. I think its best to bootstrap only with a minimal amount with most influence coming from the creator and distributed over time through votes. If tokens are exchangeable for (subsidized) goods and services, then maybe the value of the token may take off. But in anycase, these coins dont have to moon at all.
If nothing else it's ptetty cool to have your own currency :) The only problem to this thing is how many wallets will you need, or will Pillar take care of this bit hehe
Oh itll most likely be like Ethereum wallets that support their own erc20 tokens. So just the Steem wallet to house SMTs, I think..
That makes sense :)
I have thought about it some more. How would a person be tied to their altcoin? As I understand it, it would be possible for people to simply invest all of their net worth in another individual. For example, if Zuma sees that things might be going south for him, he could simply trade out all of his Zumacoin capital for something more stable (or even lucrative), say Zuckerbergcoins. This system could still work for upstanding citizens who believe in their own abilities (and are able to convince others of their abilities), but on the other end of the spectrum I think it fails. It becomes more about investing in the right people, rather than being a good person yourself.
Yeah, but that's from the perspective of expecting all these altcoins to moon. It's most likely these coins are infrequently traded, with floor price being maintained by the automated market maker in the decentralised exchange on Steem. I guess the important point is that one has the chance to build something beyond the initial $1 required to start off their own token economy.
@kevinwong - I think that we're witnessing a replay of the search engine wars of the 90's with the advent of so many new cryptocurrencies. As far as value goes, I think there will emerge one that becomes the next "Google" of finance, but due to decentralization will not have any where near as much a corner on the market.
Perhaps most of the ICO's will be worthless eventually, but I think bitcoin's scaling issues and the failure of national fiat will cause a flattening out of value across several of the top crypto's for a time until one emerges on top.
Nice observation! On my side I'm just investing more into what I'm actually using and want to be active in :)
I agree that Steemit is something more than just a new social media platform. I never liked social mediea per se, but now I'm hooked on Steemit. It gives me a window to the world, and its people. Just finishing with one final experiment and if that works (it will hopefully quell the disbelievers around me)then I shall use my PR skills to enhance the membership. The people in this community think well. Thanks
it is true that in the future everyone will have cryptocurrency, children are not excluded, laws also change, the economic and sociocultural impacts of society will also change, and I also believe SMTs will also be very successful with the very profitable concept
Well hard to say but yeah seems like there's no reason not to get into cryptocurrencies alongside national currencies
You are right, however all countries will change the law, otherwise it will be left behind, and in my opinion .., who will first set the policy towards cryptocurrency then the country will have soft power and will be respected in the world, then who is quick to see this opportunity then he is the winner..
Give me a few hours, will power up again! 💪🏼🙌🏼💯
Haha going to the gym before that!?
I'd like to convert my cryptocurrency into physical tokens I can keep in a huge vault like Scrooge McDuck.
Why not if the private keys are somewhat coded and scrambled on the physical coins!
That would be awesome to have indeed the best time is ahead for sure and how cool that would be to have blazing steem lol :D
Try making a blaze coin when smts are out!
Hmm, beginning-to-end tokens sounds like a risky investment. Maybe I’ll change my name to Mo-money.
Hahaha, high risk high rewards xD
Interesting article! At first I was completely dismissive of the thought that everyone can have their own currency. As I was scrolling through the comments though, a somewhat random thought occurred to me -- that we already place "value" on individuals. Each individuals' cryptocurrency could represent that value, and you can essentially allow the market to determine what you are worth the more information you give... (A scary thought). Then the morning thought occurred to me concerning what would happen when you are no longer here? Would the value disappear instantly? And the answer to that could be in the form of life insurance. Are these crazy thoughts I am having?
Money is a story, a network. Blockchains are replacing networks with marketplaces. If you think about kings issuing their own coins in the days of old, it basically represents the values they believe in and how they "post" and "curate". Now cryptocurrencies (especially SMTs) are giving this power to every individual :)
A year and a half ago I did not know about this platform. Also did not believe that such it is possible. Nobody knows what will happen next. But the prospects are good. Thanks for the story. Optimistic)) Have a nice evening))
But if the block chain platforms and steem keep getting better easier and bigger, what says that the big players like Google and Facebook will not join in with their own implementation?
And if they do, is it good news for the technology anyway?
Nothing can replace the community behind any technologies :) which is why using SMTs will make sense rather than deploying another Steem-like blockchain and start from fresh
I am having fantasies of having my coin now. ;)
this is an excellent article, albeit a bit late for me. I've managed to build up a bit of STEEM here since I started blogging a couple of years ago on the portal. I got lazy and decided to power down and made the WORST mistake of my life EVER.
I converted my STEEM to Bitcoin without checking the exchange rate :(((( That'll teach me to look down on the power of the cryptocurrency trading charts T_T
A couple of years ago? Steem just started in 2016 hehe but maybe that feels like a long time in crypto. I think any good investment are the ones you find yourself spending time and attention in so I guess just continue using the platform and its not too late :)
Check out @Futurcoin24 this is a project by a german guy in it is build on the waves Plattform pretty awesome!!!
Is still a mystery from me why the price of steem hasn't stayed up (around $1.50 ) following the news about SMT's. If things develop like ned sees them steem could be bigger than ethereum. I was expecting a much bigger positive reaction from the market.
Ideas might take a while to get through, plus it's only a whitepaper proposal at the moment :)
edit: smart contract platforms like ethereum that doesn't deal only with social aspects might be bigger, but as far as attention economy goes, steem seems like it'll take the cake!
So do you think BAT may have a future with steem taking the lion's share?
They might work together, I'm not sure. But getting people to use a specific browser is quite a hard sell imo..
Infact @ned is a genius to come out with this innovation. I have even see the effect possibly on the value of STEEM. having a mind to help everyone to get his own token is a good one, powering up is certain because i can see huge increase ahead.
Nice post buddy.
very interesting writing. I am also interested to meresteem back this paper for readers and I personally can write well like you @kevinwong
It's going to be a stranger future.. I see it like this.. The more money you have, the more you can give.. You don't lose by giving, only help others reach a state where they can do the same.
Everyone working to make a better future and creating freely :)
Yup I see it that way. thanks for encapsulating the spirit of it in such a neat sentence! :)
you always show us the great article @kevinwong .. its made me to be always spirit for join steemit, thanks for this article ,, hopefully in the future everybody will have their own cryptocurrency, thanks my friend
Its really a great project to transform the world @ned .... Counting down to 2018 already though ... Hope you are doing the same @kevinwong... Lol
one million percent agree, it's something that i've been waiting for for a long time, it's like the glue between all the moving parts of being in the creative and digital industries, it's an empowerment engine. it's fantastic.
I think having too many cryptocurrency units around will make them harder to exchange between people. But of course this can be used as an investment or a kind of tool powering companies or projects just like steemit.
Take a look at the automated market maker concept in the SMT whitepaper, it's borrowed from the Bancor protocol, so it's gonna be pretty liquid. Plus SMT token power, just like Steem power is readily distributed through votes on-the-fly, running in parallel with other currencies on the network.
I've learnt a lot from your last couple of posts about SMTs. Please keep up the good and informative work!
Exciting stuff Kevin... I still do not understand completly, but it sounds very promising what ned is telling obout 5 factors to give more power to the platform... even if every one might only be a small step in the right direction...... soon we will see the potential power of change ...outgoing from smt! (I upvoted)
@bobbyboe I agree with you! STEEMIT is one of those platforms that will give a good boost to go mainstream. This will make a big impact on all cryptos. And this things Ned is sharing are a lot of technologies being developed at the time that will have a big impact perhaps exponential when they are ready to launch. @gold84
Great post. Upvoted and followed. I wrote about the possibility of everyone issuing their own currency last year. I'm very pleased to see the idea is starting to bud into reality. Cheers.
Can I have the link for that? I think there are many thinking about it, at least for those in crypto.. SMTs seems like the first solution that makes sense to me, at least in the context of individuals having their own currencies.
I do wonder if the masses are ready for it.
I'd imagine most people would scoff at it, saying that it sounds too good to be true as they're all busy working at their own jobs.
Additionally, should a network or company work by a referral scheme i.e. "you get more tokens if you rope more people in", it'd encourage others to simply sell the selling and not focus on adding value with whatever they have.
Just my 2 cents.
Peace @kevinwong
Oh man... I seriously need to get into this asap.
So many good ideas are on the cusp of being actualized?
Wow! :D
@shayne
I guess what i'm looking at for SMTs is, focused communities, focused curation, focused work.
Wow.. We are going to have our own cryptocurrancy.. That's will be great @kevinwong..😊
Right now I'm struggling to grow my Steem.. Because Steem will be great investment in near future..
Thanks for your unique article and I'm very interested..
Upvoted and cheers..
Soon every product and every property and every valauble things will be back with coins.
Great post. Highly intriguing. This truly can happen in the near future and we should all be better prepared for it. Following you.
Such great information! showing that things do not need to be difficult to be fair across the board. Everyone has something great to share among communities. Once the opportunity is there, then why not!?
Coinmarketcap.com currently has Steem in 21st place in terms of market capitalization. For no reason that I can grasp, its market cap is lower than that of several cryptos that few people have probably even heard of. Cardarno? Lisk? Qtum?
What potential do any of those have compared to the Steem/SMT unicorn?
If SMT's do become massively popular, might not that give the market cap of Steem a huge boost? What might Steem be valued at four or five years from now?
@preparedwombat I could not agree more with you. STEEM deserves to be on the top 5 or at least top 10 now. As it was an year ago, but I believe we are close for that to happend. @gold84
Unicoin?
glitter farts & all. The future is sparkly
Come up with that coin when SMTs are up! :D
well waves coin offers that possibility too :) with just 1 waves you can create your own crypto in less than a minute :)
But distribition? Afaik its not steem-like, and doesnt have the features as a kind of social currency
Crypto all the way..Move over there will be new. Millionaires on the block!!
Crypto is the currency of the future. Now the Sarawak State Government has talked so much about the Digital Economy. I hope that It will have its own cryptocurrency soon.
Yes, than can really happen...
how nicely explained your toughts! great work!
As long as we have a dominate standaard like Bitcoin and atomic swaps this might work. Interesting times we live in
Spread the word. Steem on!
@kevinwong all our post has impacted me in a way to think how all these can be possible. STEEMIT and STEEM is the only or one a few cryptocurrencies that will change the world for good. It will help make the biggest redistribution of wealth to the hands of people that never imagined this, and will remove the government and apbanks from the middle. This new possibilities that will disrupt the social networks is amazing. Thanks for sharing. Just upvoted. @gold84
Really great project
Re-steemed