Steemit Inc has the ability to create massive source of revenue for themselves and for the reward pool.

All they need to do is create an exchange just like any other major exchange.

Steemit Market

We have a Steemit Market, but that is only good for small volume trades between Steem and SBD. Have you ever looked at the large transactions? They never use the Steemit Market. They can't use the market. They also can't trade against other currencies. They are forced to take the large sums of STEEM and SBD offsite to a real exchange. Those exchanges are taking fees that profits the exchange. Steemit doesn't benefit from these large trading volumes.

BlockTrades

This is not a solution either due to high fees. BlockTrades is an Over The Counter (OTC) exchange. It will never compete with a real exchange and no one uses it for very large transactions.

Both of these trading options have their place, but there is a massive vacuum where a Steemit Exchange should be.

The Fix

I propose that the Steemit Inc build and operate an exchange. The Steemit Market can remain just like it is to cover small volume trades between STEEM and SBD. BlockTrades can remain just like it is to handle simple OTC transactions. The Steemit Exchange would work on a virtual currency system just like other exchanges use. One can transfer STEEM or SBD to the new exchange before trading takes place. That will fix the transaction speed issue from drowning the Steemit Market and provide another option. The exchange will also need to include other currencies. This would fix the volume issue and add revenue. Let's also give multilingual options. Open this up to the rest of the world. German, Russian, Spanish, French, Chinese, Japanese just to list a few.

If Steemit Inc would make an Exchange division to run this exchange and charge a tiny fee just like any other exchange, then they can generate revenue. Exchanges are highly profitable by doing this. Trades between STEEM and SBD can remain free as there is no cost to transfer STEEM and SBD. STEEM will also be a primary trading pair which will boost STEEM as a popular world currency. By adding other currencies and charging trading fees, they create a source of new revenue coming into Steemit to fund Steemit projects and upgrades. This revenue could cover Steemit Inc costs and could overflow into the STEEM reward pool. This would benefit everyone and could kick Steemit into high gear.

An exchange will bring in new users to this platform. Other major exchanges have around 10 million users. Binance has exceeded this in less than a year. Steemit is over 2 years old and barely broken 1 million users. If Steemit Inc runs an exchange, this will create an avenue for Steemit Exchange account users to become Steemit account owners. The amount of visibility to this platform would be enormous. Value would be added to Steemit platform as the value is expected to follow Metcalfe's Law. This is an exponential value prediction that Facebook closely resembled in which value is expected to increase by 4 times for every time the number of active users doubles. Steemit is expected to follow Metcalfe's Law.

In conclusion:

1) Steemit Inc can profit massively from running an exchange. This would support operations even when the price of STEEM is down.

2) They can make STEEM a common trading pair with everything else. This doesn't exist and would make STEEM a powerful currency like Bitcoin and Ethereum.

3) Excess revenue can fund our reward pool, witness reward pool, or both. This would support all Steemit users and foster growth.

4) A Steemit Exchange will bring in huge numbers of new Steemit users. This would provide Steemit dominance with all the other competition emerging and grow value.

Please Resteem this blog to let @ned know that we want an exchange. Let's tell Steemit Inc that they need to diversify their revenue source in order to be a competitive business in this space. Please remember to Upvote, and Follow. Thank you.

For a breakdown of how Steemit Rewards system works:

https://steemit.com/steemit/@socky/steemit-rewards-breakdown-a-simplified-explanation-with-illustrations

For a breakdown of Steemit Keys:

https://steemit.com/life/@socky/do-you-understand-your-steemit-key

For a breakdown of why Steem Power is Important:

https://steemit.com/steemit/@socky/why-is-steem-power-important-beginners-read