Tracking SMT Development Progress
Smart Media Token pioneers! In today’s post we want to talk to you briefly about how we’re developing SMTs in an open and transparent manner so that anyone can follow along as we progress toward the release dates we announced last week.
Follow the Development of SMTs
Since the development of SMTs is being spearheaded by the Steemit blockchain team, all of the development for that protocol has been happening for a while now in the public Steem blockchain repository. We understand that this is a highly technical repo and, as it is not dedicated specifically to the development of SMTs, those who are only interested in following what is happening with that protocol are required to sift through otherwise irrelevant information. That is changing!
An Open Tracking System
We have now created an organization and tracking system for SMT development! There you will see every single work item our blockchain team has identified needs to be completed in order to launch SMTs on the dates we have announced. In fact, those dates are based on the time estimates the team has assigned to each one of the work items contained within that system.
Improved Engineering Processes
We have spent the last six months making significant changes to better improve internal processes. We have hired more amazing talent, updated our culture around making and achieving dates on our deliverables, and streamlined our engineering processes so that we can produce more high-quality code, at a faster rate, with greater predictability in our schedule. These new processes are what helped us to deliver Hivemind 1.0 and AppBase, and will soon enable us to deliver Hardfork 20.
Because this system contains everything needed to release SMTs, it has a wide range of user stories. Some will be immediately obvious to the average Steem user, while others are more technical in nature. Below is a small selection of example user stories you will find within the system:
- As a user, I want to be able to have access to immediate liquidity for a token.
- As a stakeholder in an ICO, I want to get my tokens.
- As a content creator, I want to be able to specify which token(s) in which rewards are to be paid.
- As a user, I wish to be able to create market orders for STEEM:SMT.
- SMT Name Application Form
- As a token creator, I wish to be able to upgrade my token.
- As a contributor to a failed ICO, I want to be able to recall my contribution.
Also in GitHub, you’ll find more issues dealing with items like: managing the names of all SMTs, enabling Initial Coin Offerings (and handling their success or failure), leveraging delegations to bootstrap an SMT, constructing the Automated Market Makers, and more. You can also see everything that we’ve already accomplished in the “Done” column.
Unknown Unknowns
All of this being said, there will no doubt be new issues, problems, and solutions that we have not yet considered that come up during the development process. These will be added to this tracking system the moment they have been discussed and sized. Even knowing that there will likely be some unplanned surprises with development, we are confident that our system for generating forecasts takes these unknowns into account, and they will not interfere with our ability to deliver SMTs on time as per the announced schedule.
We know how interested so many developers, users, and entrepreneurs are in the development of SMTs, which is why we’re excited to share this system with you all. Every bit of information you could possibly need to know about SMT development will be available in this one convenient location.
If you’d like to learn more about our SMTs protocol, and monitor our progress toward its completion, head over to https://github.com/orgs/steemit/projects/14.
Steem on,
Steem Blockchain Team
This is awesome! And I’ve gotta say; I’ve been quite impressed with the tone and frequency of your updates of late. I’m not a very tech-savvy person, yet I feel increasingly capable of following along.
I haven’t been around that long — just under 9 months — yet I’ve been hearing about SMTs since day one. I’ve had some difficulty understanding what they’ll represent for the platform and how significant the changes will be. Thanks to this update and your recent posts, I think I’m beginning to understand.
Perhaps I’m not quite ready to dive into github, but I certainly feel confident enough to visit this dedicated SMT development repository to explore a bit and continue learning.
⭐️ Thank you for using language that makes this information accessible to the non-geeks among us! ⭐️
What a silly wasp
I feel a lot of projects that may have been wanting to use steem or another SMT initially are starting to either launch their own token or use another blockchain. Is it a concern of the team at all that the length of time this is taking may cause us to miss the boat so to speak?
Also, will there be enough of an advantage for someone to use an SMT vs. creating their own chain/token?
The reason I ask is because I would love to see some large companies involved with SMTs as opposed to just communities on steem. Is that a realistic possibility?
Excellent questions — curious to hear their responses (if any are forthcoming.)
Great questions!
As you point out, launching a token isn't difficult (in fact I don't know why more people don't do it on Steem). The hard parts are retrofitting the blockchain to accept new decentralized tokens and developing the necessary code that enables people to customize the Proof-of-Brain distributions to ideally fit their business logic. That is far more complicated than simply launching a token protocol. It's what we believe people really need and that is what will differentiate SMTs from any other token launching protocol in existence (unless there is a whitepaper I am not aware of).
As far as creating one's own chain, token, and then being able to bootstrap the value of that token? If someone sends me a whitepaper and team roster I can evaluate the likelihood they will be able to execute. But based on my current read of the blockchain landscape this is beyond unlikely. If an established player were to announce a competing protocol (for tokens that are distributed by the crowd) and release a whitepaper or repo, that would be a different story, but if they were to do so my assumption would be that they would be starting about a year behind us, meaning we would likely have a year or two to establish market dominance. To be clear, a dumb token is not money. It will not and cannot function as money which effectively makes it useless by my estimation. Yes these tokens can provide value to an enterprise, for example by serving as IOUs for a future SMT, but aside from that, they're junk. IMO.
We are developing SMTs with an eye toward ensuring they can add value to as diverse a set of industry players as possible, from the small yoga blogger to the fortune 500 company.
Thanks for the in depth response Andrew.
This is what I wanted to hear:
"We are developing SMTs with an eye toward ensuring they can add value to as diverse a set of industry players as possible, from the small yoga blogger to the fortune 500 company."
Hoping for a few of the latter. :)
Oh how cool's that? What a great insight!!
So you just nonchalantly waited for the storm of anchorless complaints to pass until you fired the next shot on target. I like it :-)
lol
Nicely put. ⭐️
Thanks @zipporah 😉 I like your positive way of thinking demonstrated in this thread.
Thanks, @surfermarly! Likewise – I appreciate your light-hearted humor. ;)
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
It's so good to see open communication - even over-communication around SMTs.
We, as the community, can see just how important SMTs are to the future of this platform and a lot of us have invested a lot of money, time and effort (MANY more than me!) into the platform.
Most of the frustration I've felt on Steem is with the lack of communication as to what is taking place, and when new features are planned/expected to release.
So once again, a big, BIG thank you for this update :)
Why is not Steemit paying SBD lately?, Does it have to do with the changes you are making?
It is unrelated, but there is some info on SBDs here.
@timcliff The link does not work.
Whatever app you are using doesn't allow "relative" links. Here is a full one: https://steemit.com/sbd/@timcliff/sbd-explained
@timcliff That explains everything, that other link if it works.
Thanks.
Try it because it works ;)
It works.
It's a relative link, Busy can't handle those anymore apparently.
Hey, @c1udadan0x.
Someone else will probably come by and explain this in more detail, but in the meantime, the lack of SBD payout has to do where we're at as far as the debt to ownership ratio goes for SBDs, which is currently north of 5%. So, instead of SBDs, we're getting the liquid STEEM. So, nothing that's being done now is directly affecting the lack of SBD payout, but has to do with the market and what's happening with SBDs.
One of the changes in the Hard Fork coming in September will actually raise that debt ratio limit to 9% which, if I'm understanding correctly, will enable payouts including SBDs again, depending on what's going on with SBD at that point. If we're at 9% by the time the Hard Fork takes place, I'm not sure what will happen, other than, we may still be where we're at now with some liquid STEEM.
@glenalbrethsen Ok, thanks.
You're welcome. :) For what it's worth, anyway, since none of what I said helps us get back to an SBD payout.
It’s because we’re now at a ‘zero% print rate’. As @themarkymark so succinctly explained in this post...
so because the sbd is $1, steem price is falling cos people can sell it straight away.
meaning untill we have more sbd, steem price will continue to drop?
not trying to fud. just curious
I don't claim to understand it at that level, @dunstuff – which is why I linked to @themarkymark's post. ;)
@zipporah I get it, thanks.
Yep! I started typing my reply to you (on my tiny iPhone) screen before anyone else had responded. Didn’t see all the other explanations that preceded mine until after I hit ‘post’. Sorry to be redundant! 🤪
@zipporah Hahaha, do not worry, these are things that happen.
Some great insights, can see there are some really phenomenal talent around and SMTs coming to production stage will be a very happening time for Steemit
Gracias de todo corazón.
Very nice news. I can not wait for the appearance of SMT. It seems to me, it will be a very important moment in the history of Crypto-currency.
I couldn’t agree more! Tell your friends!
The first post about SMT development...great to read the development , and many enterpreuners and investors must be looking forward see the development phase for steem future...a good insight pf the development
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This is fantastic to hear. High levels of clarity and transparency help in so many ways.
I will be going through those current/planned works in details.
Thanks!