Have you ever wondered what witnesses make?
STEEM witnesses are the secret sauce that make Steemit function. Every post you submit, transfer you send, and vote you cast are processed by the witnesses. Being a witness is a big responsibility, and the equipment and maintenance can be expensive and time-intensive. Because of this, witnesses are compensated with SP for every "block" of transactions that they process.
The blockchain, through the witnesses, processes 21 blocks of transactions in each 63-second round. The top 19 witnesses get 1 block every round, with the other 2 blocks being distributed among the other active witnesses according to their ranking.
We have run a script that has analyzed every block over the last 7 days to calculate what each witness earned over the week.
Bar Chart
This bar chart shows the distribution over the last week among the witnesses that produced blocks:
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Cluster
This cluster chart puts in perspective the returns earned by each witness:
Table
For a more detailed breakdown of the witness income over the last week, see the table below.
Note that the $ value attributed is based on the current STEEM price at the time publishing of $6.17. This price has fluctuated wildly over the last few months.
| producer | rank | SP | $ Value |
| jesta | 1 | 1883.138217 | $11,618.96 |
| gtg | 2 | 1884.089313 | $11,624.83 |
| roelandp | 3 | 1883.137254 | $11,618.96 |
| timcliff | 4 | 1883.138226 | $11,618.96 |
| good-karma | 5 | 1883.706716 | $11,622.47 |
| blocktrades | 6 | 1884.090295 | $11,624.84 |
| aggroed | 7 | 1883.710738 | $11,622.50 |
| anyx | 8 | 1882.185034 | $11,613.08 |
| someguy123 | 9 | 1883.139173 | $11,618.97 |
| pharesim | 10 | 1882.564741 | $11,615.42 |
| lukestokes.mhth | 11 | 1883.517807 | $11,621.30 |
| smooth.witness | 12 | 1883.13617 | $11,618.95 |
| clayop | 13 | 1883.137174 | $11,618.96 |
| ausbitbank | 14 | 1883.518848 | $11,621.31 |
| xeldal | 15 | 1882.947307 | $11,617.78 |
| thecryptodrive | 16 | 1882.563709 | $11,615.42 |
| netuoso | 17 | 1607.041502 | $9,915.45 |
| curie | 18 | 1883.136238 | $11,618.95 |
| riverhead | 19 | 1882.94638 | $11,617.78 |
| pfunk | 20 | 1748.127771 | $10,785.95 |
| furion | 21 | 841.1393415 | $5,189.83 |
| liondani | 22 | 401.9591623 | $2,480.09 |
| busy.witness | 23 | 374.2745275 | $2,309.27 |
| wackou | 24 | 393.3656946 | $2,427.07 |
| jerrybanfield | 25 | 352.3067443 | $2,173.73 |
| bhuz | 26 | 330.3139424 | $2,038.04 |
| cervantes | 27 | 329.3912871 | $2,032.34 |
| utopian-io | 28 | 316.0319915 | $1,949.92 |
| klye | 29 | 322.7102034 | $1,991.12 |
| followbtcnews | 30 | 308.3917088 | $1,902.78 |
| abit | 31 | 291.2045957 | $1,796.73 |
| drakos | 32 | 278.7948789 | $1,720.16 |
| teamsteem | 33 | 274.0217615 | $1,690.71 |
| fyrst-witness | 34 | 266.3763282 | $1,643.54 |
| ihashfury | 35 | 238.6919228 | $1,472.73 |
| aizensou | 36 | 235.8272376 | $1,455.05 |
| charlieshrem | 37 | 219.596906 | $1,354.91 |
| yabapmatt | 38 | 215.7799699 | $1,331.36 |
| themarkymark | 39 | 203.3618158 | $1,254.74 |
| chainsquad.com | 40 | 195.7399252 | $1,207.72 |
| joseph | 41 | 175.665768 | $1,083.86 |
| blockbrothers | 42 | 157.541507 | $972.03 |
| steemed | 43 | 158.4831286 | $977.84 |
| delegate.lafona | 45 | 154.6698011 | $954.31 |
| reggaemuffin | 47 | 144.1714904 | $889.54 |
| theprophet0 | 48 | 143.2157484 | $883.64 |
| blueorgy | 50 | 136.5350919 | $842.42 |
| complexring | 51 | 130.8096814 | $807.10 |
| nextgencrypto | 52 | 120.3000415 | $742.25 |
| neoxian | 53 | 107.8860724 | $665.66 |
| ats-witness | 54 | 94.53139067 | $583.26 |
| chitty | 55 | 94.51567544 | $583.16 |
| liberosist | 56 | 95.47981968 | $589.11 |
| boatymcboatface | 57 | 88.79487625 | $547.86 |
| steemychicken1 | 58 | 88.79912895 | $547.89 |
| dragosroua | 59 | 85.93429348 | $530.21 |
| arcange | 60 | 58.23655449 | $359.32 |
| steemgigs | 62 | 79.24507544 | $488.94 |
| patrice | 63 | 78.2931412 | $483.07 |
| ocd-witness | 64 | 72.55990488 | $447.69 |
| bitcoiner | 66 | 71.60416005 | $441.80 |
| krnel | 67 | 49.65919269 | $306.40 |
| adsactly-witness | 68 | 72.56030582 | $447.70 |
| au1nethyb1 | 70 | 42.97666564 | $265.17 |
| viva.witness | 71 | 27.67206177 | $170.74 |
| privex | 72 | 52.52000108 | $324.05 |
| blockchained | 73 | 48.68802938 | $300.41 |
| sircork | 75 | 42.00651589 | $259.18 |
| kushed | 78 | 36.28601935 | $223.88 |
| prc | 79 | 35.32586207 | $217.96 |
| rival | 80 | 35.32589514 | $217.96 |
| sc-steemit | 81 | 31.50514275 | $194.39 |
| masteryoda | 82 | 32.45742115 | $200.26 |
| bitrocker2020 | 83 | 32.45746873 | $200.26 |
| bue | 84 | 29.60103024 | $182.64 |
| inventor16 | 85 | 31.5093658 | $194.41 |
| jatinhota | 86 | 30.54909629 | $188.49 |
| fubar-bdhr | 88 | 26.73663739 | $164.97 |
| demotruk | 89 | 27.69261326 | $170.86 |
| suggeelson | 91 | 25.77232741 | $159.02 |
| felixxx | 92 | 15.27550437 | $94.25 |
| libertyranger | 93 | 23.87181725 | $147.29 |
| yehey | 94 | 23.8718579 | $147.29 |
| block-buster | 95 | 21.96373037 | $135.52 |
| anarcho-andrei | 98 | 21.0033834 | $129.59 |
| swelker101 | 99 | 17.18307062 | $106.02 |
| ura-soul | 100 | 16.23506325 | $100.17 |
| imacryptorick | 101 | 17.18672832 | $106.04 |
| silversteem | 102 | 17.18678087 | $106.04 |
| skenan | 103 | 17.18279864 | $106.02 |
| hagie | 105 | 15.27462369 | $94.24 |
| gmuxx | 106 | 14.32630825 | $88.39 |
| rcarter.witness | 107 | 14.32641592 | $88.39 |
| samrg472 | 108 | 8.596777557 | $53.04 |
| helo | 109 | 0.951994378 | $5.87 |
| guiltyparties | 110 | 10.50164219 | $64.80 |
| jamzed | 113 | 10.49777928 | $64.77 |
| cloh76.witness | 115 | 7.637253586 | $47.12 |
| cryptwo | 117 | 4.77261219 | $29.45 |
| moisesmcardona | 118 | 5.73293816 | $35.37 |
| mahdiyari | 119 | 6.681192284 | $41.22 |
| davinci.witness | 123 | 1.908068589 | $11.77 |
| gridcoin.science | 126 | 3.816585688 | $23.55 |
| pcste | 128 | 4.776850872 | $29.47 |
| castellano | 129 | 3.82060105 | $23.57 |
| dropahead | 131 | 2.868452647 | $17.70 |
| evildido | 133 | 3.820678933 | $23.57 |
| stoodkev | 136 | 0.956040487 | $5.90 |
| enginewitty | 137 | 2.864338013 | $17.67 |
| glowhost-matt | 139 | 2.86452953 | $17.67 |
| precise | 142 | 2.864401272 | $17.67 |
| windforce | 145 | 2.864346957 | $17.67 |
| cryptohazard | 151 | 1.908462156 | $11.78 |
| steem-bounty | 152 | 1.912302777 | $11.80 |
| kennybll | 157 | 1.91229999 | $11.80 |
| bsameep | 161 | 0.956164508 | $5.90 |
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So is the amount of SP gained eventually to go down with the price going up? I am assuming that a few months ago when Steem was still 1-2$ they made less than a third compared to current profits. This is already a pretty insane amount atm with the top 20's making at least 40k dollar a month o.O
Great question, the answer is maybe. There are a number of variables at play. The first thing to note is that SP is not a liquid asset, and can only be withdrawn over a period of time. The witnesses are rewarded with "vests," which are essentially shares in the platform and are represented by SP. So, in actuality, while the SP they are receiving is an asset, the rewards they receive for producing blocks is more akin to a stock option than a salary.
Second, the value of STEEM is currently $6+, but the cryptocurrency market has fluctuated wildly within the last year, with STEEM value dropping as low as $.25. If the market drops tomorrow, $40,000 could be $2,000 and with a lack of liquidity, the value of each witness's holdings would be negatively impacted.
Third, to answer your first question, the number of vests per block has changed several times over the course of the platform and could very well change again in a future hardfork.
Finally, when it comes to the top 20's, their costs are much higher than that of an average witness. They have usually been selected to their position because they are running multiple services for the platform, which include databases, APIs, public nodes, semi-public nodes, third-party services, etc. and the costs to run these services on multiple VPS's with redundancy for network and system failures is enormous. This cost continues to grow exponentially as the blockchain grows and the demands on these servers become higher.
Hopefully, this answers your questions, and thank you for reading our work!
Thanks for the detailed reply. As I understand from this it's similar to how BitShares works when changing fees costs.
This is interesting information. I personally am glad the earnings for Witnesses is up. After all we want motivated, skilled people to compete for these jobs!
Absolutely! The monthly cost to run the VPS servers is very high, especially for those in the top 20.
Very good post, Thank you for the great work :)
keep it up :)
I know many things from your post, thanks.