Increasing Steem optionality for investor, creator and consumer

@acidyo wrote a post a few hours ago with his views on why SMTs are such an interesting investment vehicle when they arrive and I wholly agree that when it comes to the future of investing, Steem has some superior options.

Steem Power itself will provide new revenue streams for investors with the next one likely to be the Resource Credit pool delegations, that will empower new and existing users in multiple ways as well as support the applications that will be built on Steem whether with an SMT attached or not. RCs essentially provide some kind of passive options for investors.

The other option possible I think is very interesting is the one I mentioned a couple of weeks ago with having the ability to lock stake away and earn a guaranteed return on the platform from it. This would make it truly a passive investment vehicle that can return income for investors without them affecting the platform content in any way.

I am interested in options however and these two provide many but, some are concerned that the second means that too many users will lock stake away making the pool distribution very difficult. However, the options of being able to invest into SMT projects negates some of these concerns as it would be possible for the projects to decide on how their token is distributed.

@Steemhunt's distribution is one of the models that is frequently mentioned as it both rewards users for contributing and, Steem Power holders for leveraging their vote to earn on the SMT in a relatively risk free environment. The more these types of projects allow active users to invest and support their roadmap, the more chance of success and of course, buy-in they already have.

One of the major benefits and the highest value item on Steem is the community itself as it is a population of diverse groups that can be used to invest, support and populate projects as well as a risk management function in the case of failure. Like @acidyo mentioned, many of the ERC-20 ICOs have already failed and the huge amounts of ETH invested into them is essentially lost. SMTs will allow investment in without costing a wallet, other than opportunity cost.

The other massive benefit of Steem from an investment perspective is that unlike most targets, Steem and the applications involved can be actively used and their progress tracked by investors. Essentially, an investor can watch their investment vehicle develop in front of their eyes, rather than relying on the hype and press releases of the closed teams. This gives a more granular control over investment and likely means that the projects are going to have to deliver more often and accurately to keep investment flowing in. This is potentially a healthier form of investment in my view, as there will likely be a closer match to progress stated and reality.

As said, I am about options that support growth and to encourage investors, contributors and consumers is going to require a mix of systems that can satisfy their needs to earn and be involved at the level they are comfortable or willing. A problem we commonly face is that self interest generally means that some options are pushed over others when what we need is a holistic approach that provides a range of options that we can then tweak to find a balance point that provides healthy growth across all three major classes without destroying opportunity of any.

There is no magical formula that will do this however, so what it requires is constant testing and tuning and if all groups accept that there are times they will benefit and times they won't, we could quickly find a line of suitable fit we can move forward along, adjusting further as we go. People seem to forget that this is an experiment on a scale and in a way that has never really been attempted before and, there are a lot of mistakes that have been made and will be made but, learning is happening.

While individuals are relatively narrow in vision and want, the Steem community as a whole is not and therefore requires a host of possibilities to satisfy it, just like in the real world. Scale this across continents, cultures and economic disparity and there are a range of complex dynamics that go unconsidered by all individuals as a whole.

This means that we as a group and as individual people within, are part of a continuous negotiation that is unlikely to ever be complete as with every change and solution, new challenges arise while the old must still be faced. It will be our ability to be both willing to change and personal resilience under difficult circumstances that will see us through the various situations to come. I still think that this isn't a place for everyone, but everyone is welcome to try their hand.

I have challenges I face in the real world and on Steem, just like anyone else but, I don't see an option out there that is a better contender to be able to provide a compelling and dynamically changing environment that offers users investment, creative and consumptive options like Steem. For many who come in under one label, they are quickly going to take a hybrid approach and explore wider an the ore who do so, the stronger the network becomes.

It is all amazingly interesting as the range of potentials individuals and groups have here is huge and only growing as we move forward. At some point, the rest of the world will hopefully enter in through the various options it provides and then things will mover very, very quickly indeed. The chance for us here is to get up to speed and have a running start.

There are lots of games to play on Steem, no matter your preference.

Taraz
[ a Steem original ]