RE: The curse of advertising revenue
I don't think Steem should capitulate and accept add banners just yet. But we have to think about what gives STEEM value other than speculation. Of course, in order to get Steem Power, buying it outright is much quicker than earning it over time but when the Greater Fools stop buying STEEM and the speculation comes to a halt, I'm afraid people buying Steem Power to earn more will not suffice at keeping the platform monetized because it would be a negative sum game.
I believe what will give STEEM the currency value in the long term will have to be promoters of various things out there in the world buying Steem Power to get their message across. The speculative phase is absolutely necessary because it drives the growth of the platform by making it lucrative for the masses to join. Once the masses are in, then is the time for corporations, social movements, religious organizations and every other type of entity willing to pay for reaching an audience to buy up Steem Power to give STEEM value. If that fails to happen, then this platform will be demonetized.
But, through SMTs, steem can be pressured by corporations and advertisers whilst keeping places like Steemit advert free. I think...
Can you clarify that a bit?
I am on my phone now but SMTs can be used to tokenize and monetize essentially any platform while still running in the steem blockchain. So another platform can still have adverts and whatever they want but use steem. Steemit itself need not have adverts to benefit indirectly from advertising...i think...
That's correct. Are SMT's (Smart Media Tokens) just another instance of STEEM the currency under the hood like Steem Backed Dollars?
I am not sure exactly how they work tbh
I read the whitepaper. SMT's are custom tokens somewhat like ERC20 tokens are on the Ethereum network. The creation and use of SMTs use bandwidth on Steem the blockchain. For that, STEEM the currency is needed. Also, SMT ICOs require STEEM to be bought. The organization who holds the ICO may sell the STEEM it gets later but, nevertheless, even in the worst case, some STEEM will always be held at any given time.