Do blogging/writing and blockchain have anything in common? Yes – with ”Steemit’. What is ‘Steemit’? It is a blockchain based blogging platform. Imagine writing a blogpost and it being stored on a Blockchain namely the ‘Steem’ blockchain… so, next what is a ‘Blockchain’? To refresh, ‘Blockchain‘ is a distributed ledger of information with no central authority(decentralized) The most popular application of Blockchain is of course, the ‘Bitcoin’.
We have all heard about ‘Blockchain’ being used for the mortgage industry, car auction industry – but for blogging and writing content? yes, it is true – bloggers can write their content which will be posted on the ‘Steem’ blockchain and you ‘may’ even get paid for it. The ‘Steem’ blockchain is used for other decentralized applications as well like DTube (decentralized video platform), eSteem (Steem based mobile app)
‘Steemit’:
‘Steemit’ is a ‘Dapp’ or ‘Decentralized application’ which was started in 2016.One can upvote, downvote,comment on other’s posts (similar to other communities but with a difference , you get paid for it and it is on a blockchain)
Depending on the number of upvotes you get, you get paid in the form of digital tokens called ‘STEEM’. Everyday, STEEM tokens are mined on the ‘Steem’ blockchain and this can be used as rewards to different users.
Other points about ‘Steemit’:
- Users can earn money by creating content and if it receives generous upvotes – one can earn enough ‘STEEM’ tokens
- Users will also a receive a reward in another way. If they upvote another post and that post becomes popular later, they get rewarded with STEEM tokens too
- Unlike regular blogging sites, if an user loses his/her password/owner key, it cannot be reset! Hence, it is recommended for users to store an offline copy of the same. There are a number of keys too – such as owner, active, posting and memo. Since each account contains funds, it is critical for owners to safeguard their keys appropriately.
- Another interesting point about ‘Steemit’ is that since the content is stored on the ‘Steem’ blockchain – it cannot be deleted(though a blank page can be shown for the time the post is active) Since one important property of a blockchain is immutability(changes made to a block cannot be altered) – all edits, comments are stored on the ‘Steem’ blockchain permanently.
Can ‘Steem’ be converted?
Yes, ‘Steem’ digital tokens can be converted to Bitcoin or to a country’s native currency or your local bank account. You can also convert it into other cryptocurrencies.
We saw the concept of ‘writing and blockchain’ merging in this post by means of the ‘Steemit’ blockchain…join me as I uncover most interesting topics…
Disclaimer: This article is to be used for informational purposes only. With cryptocurrencies being banned in many countries including India – it is up to the user to research and make decisions on the same.