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Greetings Steemians,

on August 27th 2019, Steem will have its 21st HardFork, which includes many changes relevant for Smartsteem.com. This post, therefore, is an explanation of our plans regarding HF21 and what we plan for the future beyond.

HF21

HF21 brings many changes and a few of them requires adoption from us. Some more than others, but generally speaking many of them will have an effect.

1.) Reduced author rewards due to 50/50 and SPS

One of the most important changes is the reduction in content rewards (author & curation), which also means a reduction of currently existing revenue sources.

Currently (Before HF21)

• 75% of inflation to "Proof of Brain" social consensus algorithm.
• 15% of inflation to stakeholders.
• 10% of inflation to block producers.

After HF21 takes place

• 75 65% of inflation to "Proof of Brain" social consensus algorithm.
• 15% of inflation to stakeholders.
• (NEW) 10% of inflation to Steem Proposal System (SPS)
• 10% of inflation to block producers.

This essentially means, author & curation rewards are being reduced by ~13%.

On top of this, the author/curation distribution will receive changes as well:

Currently (Before HF21)

• 75% Author Rewards
• 25% Curation Rewards

After HF21 takes place

• 50% Author Rewards
• 50% Curation Rewards

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When adding both changes together, the rewards will be as follows, in comparison to the current levels:

• 43% Author Rewards (-43%)
• 43% Curation Rewards (+172%)

What does this mean if you're a Smartsteem.com user?

You're a vote-seller:

Your liquid revenue is being reduced, as you'll get paid 85% of our revenue which we achieve by selling your vote.

Your curation revenue is increasing drastically, which we're not taking a cut from (100% revenue).

You're a delegator

Your liquid revenue is being reduced, as you'll get paid 100% of our revenue which we achieve by selling @smartsteem's vote.

Curation rewards earned by @smartsteem have not been distributed yet. If those will be distributed now partially will be covered further below.

You're a promotion buyer

Your possible earnings will be reduced due to the lower author rewards percentage. To counter this, we'll be increasing the ROI calculation.

2.) Convergent Linear Rewards Curve

This one is the most complicated change in HF21. For a detailed explanation of what this change is and means, read this post by @vandeberg.

However, in terms of changes to Smartsteem, the Convergent Linear Rewards Curve means the following:

Minimum promotion amount will be increased.

Current Minimum Promotion

• 0.1 SBD/STEEM @smartmarket
• 5 STEEM @smartsteem

After HF21 takes place

Both services will share the same minimum promotion amount, however, the exact number will be disclosed later. You'll find it on Smartsteem.com and steembottracker.com

3.) Reduced Curation Reverse Auction Window

If you're an OG Steemian, you might remember the time, when votes could be made in a window of 30 minutes, where part of the rewards was then redistributed to the author. This was later changed to 15 minutes and the rewards going back to the reward pool.

15 minutes is now being changed to 5 minutes, after HF21. So our minimum post age will be changed to 5 minutes as well. However, even if you request a promotion for a post which is less than 5 minutes old, the promotion will simply be halted until the post is at least 5 minutes old.

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These are the changes regarding HF21 so far. Next up is the topic regarding the distribution of curation rewards and the future beyond HF21.

Curation Rewards Distribution

TL;DR: As a temporary measure, until we've completed our restructuring (further down below), we're planning on increasing the liquid rewards from 100% to 110%. This will not happen instantly after HF21, but probably as soon as we've got in the first few votes and curation results.

As a delegator to @smartsteem, 100% of liquid rewards, the SBD & STEEM we're receiving from promotion buyers (bidders) is being re-distributed among delegators. We aren't taking a cut there.

On the other hand, curation rewards (steempower) are used as payment for our services. Ever since the inception of Smartsteem, these rewards have stayed on our account; no power-downs have been started, which is something we're quite proud of.

With the reduction of author rewards, the liquid revenue for delegators is being lowered as well. In contrast, curation rewards will be increased, and even with the 13% reduction of the total rewards pool, curation rewards are still far higher than they've been previously.

Now, of course, we're planning to compensate delegators for their loss in revenue, but generally speaking: jumping on the undercutting bandwagon, who gives more revenue away, is not something we stand for and what we're going to participate in.

Our goal has it always been to be a competitive service in this market, without dropping our standards. For example, we've been blacklisting bad actors continuously over the years, which does put a strain on the rewards we're generating.

We also believe that our service is providing comfort and ease of use & mind, far beyond what's the norm in this market. Spinning up a simply bid-bot is something everybody can do. Our services are much more complex than that, which does require more time, effort and brain-hours. (We're also planning for the future, more on that further down below)

What we essentially want to say is the following: we're planning on rebalancing the revenue after HF21. How much of the curation and in which way is not yet decided. We're not yet sure how the partially free downvotes will act upon confidence in buying promotion and curation rewards for @smartsteem.

However, as a temporary measure, until we've completed our restructuring (further down below), we're planning on increasing the liquid rewards from 100% to 110%. This will not happen instantly after HF21, but probably as soon as we've got in the first few votes and curation results. Our current plan is to subsidize these increased rewards for now by our profits generated with our vote-selling revenue (https://smartsteem.com/promote/buy).

Downvotes

Another feature of HF21 will be the partially free downvotes. What this essentially means, is that 25% of your voting-power (voting mana) will be available as free downvotes.

If you could distribute 10$ with a 100% upvote, you could remove 2.5$ with a 100% free downvote.

Now, we noticed that people have rumoured what will happen with them. While we're not yet sure how @smartsteem will be used to utilize those downvotes for the good of the platform, we can say one thing for sure:

Downvotes will not be sold.

This goes completely against our ethos and what Smartsteem should stand for in the near future. With that written down, read further below to know what we've planned for the near future.

Future beyond HF21

With the most urgent topics talked about, now seems to be a good time to talk about what we're looking into for the future of Smartsteem.com

What started as a hobby project in Late 2017 (our first introduction post), has grown quite well. Not only the project but also the people behind it. (@therealwolf winks)

We never really expected for Smartsteem to live until this very day, but thought that the planned timeline of SMTs in Q1/Q2 of 2018 would put it to an end. But as you might know, they are still not around.

Ever since the inception, there always was the question in mind: should Smartsteem be changed? What should it be changed to? Or even: should Smartsteem even exist anymore?

The last question was especially present in the last few weeks. There is only a limited amount of time and this time should be spent thoughtfully. And while we always planned to use funds generated by Smartsteem.com to bootstrap other exciting projects, we're not yet done with our OG. And if you've read our initial post, you know that we had only the best intentions in mind. Whitelist-Only Service, etc. Some of those things didn't work out, but the vision has still lived on.

Which is why ultimately the decision was made to continue Smartsteem.com. To completely redesign it, incorporate everything learned over the last 2 years but to continue the legacy.

We're currently very much in the process of the re-design & re-structuring. There is no ETA yet, but we'll give one as soon as we see the light at the end of the tunnel. Our goal is to launch it nearly perfect and nothing less from it.

Now, whether or not the redesign will be successful, we can't say for sure. But we'll do our best.

With this, we want to thank everyone who's been supporting us over these nearly 2 years. Especially to our vote-sellers and delegators: you are appreciated. Thank you, It has been an incredibly exciting journey!

If there are changes regarding HF21 adoption or anything in that regard, we'll let you know here on our blog, so make sure you're following us.

Team Smartsteem