When Steemit launched its social media platform monetization system less than two weeks ago, there was the usual buzz and excitement in digital currency circles. The concept of using Steem currency to pay bloggers for using the platform generated increased levels of attention for the company and its digital currency. Apparently, that was not all that the move generated, as recent reports indicate that the cryptocurrency’s market capitalization has enjoyed a massive increase as well – growing from the pre-payout cap of $13 million to more than $260 million this week. How impressive is that growth? Ask Ripple and Litecoin, which have now seen Steem race past them to take its place as one of the most valuable digital currencies in existence. At the present moment, only Bitcoin and Ether are worth more.
The Steemit platform has also reportedly enjoyed dramatic growth in its level of activity, with a tripling of new users, posts, transactions, and votes. Steemit’s blockchain has also been busy, as it now facilitates daily transactions that total in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. As the company’s CEO, Ned Scott, recently noted, ““People are recognizing the vast potential of a community-operated social networking platform. The Steemit team has created an online hub where users can monetize their time and their energies and share in the profits like never before.”
Ether Rallies as Hard Fork Looms
This week saw cryptocurrency Ether rise in value to more than $12 a coin, as the Ethereum community prepared for an impending hard fork that is designed to undo the recent theft of tens of millions of dollars from the company’s much-hyped DAO. By the end of the week, the currency had fallen to $11.50 – a price that still represented a weekly increase of more than 13%. Meanwhile, reports this week indicated that the hard fork plan had been essentially set, and that testing of the code was virtually complete. The hard fork is underway at this point, and all available information at this time indicates that the process should all be complete by July 20th, 2016.
More information:
http://dcebrief.com/digital-currency-weekly-recap-7-17-2016/