A Lesson In Decentralization: @aggroed and Steem Engine

@aggroed is back in the Top 20. Congratulations to him and to the community.

After losing the massive Witness vote of Freedom/Pumpkin, a call to action went out. Aggroed went from one of the higher ranked Witnesses to being outside the Top 20.

It is long been accused that the only way to be a Top 20 Witness is to have the powerful vote from that one account. This made some people leery of how decentralized the blockchain is. Like most things, I feel this will be taken care of in time yet it is still occasional fodder.

The situation yesterday showed how we are moving to decentralization on so many different levels. Aggroed is now a Top 20 Witness without the Witness vote from Freedom. The community stepped up and used its SP to place him there.

Ned was on @pennsif's show yesterday and he stated how important it is for all accounts to vote. This includes even the smallest of ones. Witness votes are very important. One might think it does not matter yet when you add it all up, it does. I implore accounts of all sizes to use those Witness votes. If you do not feel qualified, go in and proxy your vote to someone more knowledgeable.

The situation that occurred with Aggroed can be duplicated. There is enough SP out there among the community to get things done. That is the entire basis for decentralized platforms.

Speaking of decentralization, we saw another platform released that is outside of Steemit Inc. This deals with token creation and, eventually, an exchange.

https://steem-engine.com/

This is a project put together by Aggroed and @yabapmatt in partnership with @harpagon. With the delay in SMTs, these members decided to establish a place where applications and individuals could create tokens. The alternative was having them go to Ethereum and creating their tokens using ERC20.

One of the nice features is the interface which is NOT technical in nature. Designing token in a smart contract can be rather overwhelming to us no techies. This eliminates that hassle. It is easy to use while simplifying the process. This provides token creation capabilities to anyone.

ERC20 was a goldmine for Ethereum. One of the main reasons is because it standardized the tokens. Steem Engine looks to do the same thing but tied to this blockchain. Unlike Ethereum, this is not written into the Steem blockchain. Again, this is a project outside Steemit Inc. Instead, it uses a side chain to tie into the blockchain.

This is not a replacement for Smart Media Tokens. That is still, as far as I know, on Steemit's to do list. SMTs will replicate the features and functionality of STEEM. That will be coded into the chain. Steem Engine is providing a solution for those who need a token while awaiting SMTs and for those who have use cases which will not be satisfied by SMTs.

Full details can be found in their introduction article.

https://busy.org/@aggroed/introducing-steem-engine-com

There is also an in depth FAQ page that I recommend on their website. It explains what the platform is along with the ENG token.

https://steem-engine.com/

@inertia did a review of the project along with asking the founders some questions. He really delved deep into what is taking place to draw some conclusions. Basically, his article covered the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly as it pertains to this project (fortunately, there wasn't anything in the ugly).

It is a fair assessment with what is taking place along with some logical conclusions.

https://busy.org/@inertia/comparing-steem-engine-to-dstors-and-dlive

These two situations show the power of the Steem community. The ability to decentralize is in our hands. There are enough developers on here who are doing things moving us in that direction. We see projects popping up that are filling in gaps. While we are still relying upon Steemit Inc, the situation is much different than it was in November. Even Steemit Inc appears to be ceding some power over and reaching outside itself for assistance.

I cannot stress this enough. What we are involved in is a process. Things will not happen overnight. This is a grass roots platform that is being built from the ground up. It is also being done without huge money from the outside. We also have an absence of hype. Each day we are adding to our accomplishment enabling us to stand on merit. No need to fluff. We have Exhibit A-Z to let people prove our point.

Thank you all for allowing me to be a small part of what is taking place.

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