There is a lot of work that goes into success. Online, this means a great deal of development is required for onboarding a lot of people can take place.
The world of blockchain is still rather new and not known by the masses. While many projects have great ideas, development seems to be lagging for many. This is not the case for Steem.
In spite of the bear market, there are a number of projects that were developed which I believe will alter the course of Steem. These 5 have the ability to attract millions of users over the next couple years.
I will admit I am not following every project, so there might be some I missed. However, these are the Top 5 reasons why Steem will explode in the future.
This certainly belongs at the top of the list. It is a protocol that can radically alter the path of crytocurrency. I feel that one of the biggest variables to mass adoption is distribution. SMTs allow any website to be tokenized, thus creating a mini-economy. By providing incentive to people for whatever activity the site values, tokens are distributed to users.
What I love about this is that it is reversing the flow. Instead of trying to bring people to Steem, we are going to see Steem brought to the masses. No altering of behavior is required by the individuals. The difference is that they will be part of the Steem ecosystem the second they sign up even though they are not using Steem-based applications.
Here we see another reason for massive growth with Steem. Communities is a feature that is presently in beta. One of the main features that was discussed was the ability to own a particular community. This is a radical departure from what we presently see from the main platforms.
I feel one of the true values of communities will be to those with large followings. This does not have to be necessarily content creators. Anyone famous could set up a community and own that. Imagine Lebron James opening up a community and rewarding his fans.
The other valuable feature is the fact the community is in tact no matter what interface is used on Steem. Social media is full of silos. People work hard to establish their Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube followings. However, all those are different. With communities, we see the community in tact regardless of the Steem application used.
Last week there was an update that laid out the plans for the rest of the year. This provided a lot of valuable information that is taking Steem-Engine to the level of legitimate exchange. From what I can tell, once all the features are implemented, this will be full-service. Anything that takes place on the larger exchanges will be possible on Steem-Engine.
The addition of NFTs are going to spur on a great deal of innovation. I already saw a number of posts by those in the gaming community that are really excited. The ability to earn/create unique assets and provide ownership to them even after leaving the game is revolutionary. This is not something we really saw before.
By gaining approval to be a money transmitter, Steem-Engine is going to start allowing some fiat onboarding. One of the drawbacks to Steem is how difficult it can be to get the token. Steem-Engine is going to make this process easier, albeit using a peg to STEEM. Nevertheless, it is simple to convert from STEEMP to STEEM.
Here we see an application that flew a bit under the radar compared to the rest of this list. Yesterday, however, 
There is a lot going on behind the scenes. We are going to see some updates rolling out soon that will move the platform forward a great deal. They mindset of this team is not simply to create a video platform that rivals YouTube, but 10X it in terms of what is offered to the users.
Since the beginning, this application positioned itself as an alternative to the censoring that is taking place on YouTube and Facebook. This is being taken to a new level as there is a purge going to take place over the next week by YouTube. There is enormous pressure out there to silence certain voices on social media. Threespeak was built with the intention of providing everyone a voice, regardless of what they had to say.
By combining the community feature, threespeak seeks to provide each content creator with the ability to start his or her own social media platform. Another radical departure from the present way things seem to operate.
We finish with the most successful application on Steem, and perhaps in the entire world of blockchain gaming. Splinterlands (
This is only going to move to another level now that most of the baseline development is in place. The last feature, which I understand to be out by the end of the year, is a mobile application. This should open up the path to more growth since more than half the world connects using mobile.
There was also a crowdsource fundraiser which netted the money required that will be used, at least in part, for marketing of the game. The team's goal is to make Splinterlands one of the biggest games out there. Blockchain gaming offers some distinct advantages over traditional gaming. This application is positioning itself to leverage that before the rest of the gaming world is even aware it exist.
It is much easier to build upon existing success rather than develop it initially. Splinterlands already has a couple years of major success in the blockchain world. It seems poised to take things to the next level.
The fascinating aspect to this is all that is mentioned here will take place within the next 6 months. Much of it will be revealed either by the end of the year or shortly thereafter. We are not taking about plans that are 1-2 years down the road.
In my opinion, these 5 projects will provide Steem with the necessary features to stage a period of massive growth. The pieces are falling into place and the teams behind many of these projects have plans to bring users onboard. Realistically, it will only take success in one area to radically change things. That said, I feel there is a good chance that all of these projects are highly successful.
Please add your thoughts in the comments below on other projects you feel might have a similar impact on Steem.
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