Before i begin with this post , i would like to tell everybody what a steem witness is and their essence to the steem blockchain and how to become one and the reason for being a Blockchain Witness.
Let's get our Facts Straight ;
There is nothing like a ''Steemit Witness'' however the word Witness is linked with the STEEM blockchain. STEEM blockchain needs a group of people to build blocks and uses a mechanism called DPOS "delegated proof of stake"
What is DPOS
Proof of Stake isn't like or about mining, but rather it's about validating. Even though blocks have to be created by someone, the one who gets to create the next block is dependent on the specific Proof of Work algorithm, but for this to be decentralized the selection process must have some kind of randomization , (else we revert to a centralized system).
Who then can become a STEEM Witness ?
Actually anyone who is more than willing to contribute to the Blockchain may have the chance to become one however they are be elected through votes made by the Steemit Society. The people who are delegated to create these blocks are what we call witnesses.
Using a Steem-power weighted system we can vote for our STEEM blockchain Witnesses, so basically they are practically some of the most trusted members of the steemit community who are tech-savy and have the zeal to keep the Blockchain secure and protected . To basically become a Steem Witness an individual has to be approved and voted by the Community , meaning that person needs to have a good record and must be respected or liked by people in the community in order to be upvoted as a witness in the first place.
Who gets to elect STEEM Witnesses and how is it done?
Every Steemit User is generally entitled to 30 Votes to elect 30 witnesses they see fit. These steem Blockchain Witnesses are supposed or expected to run nodes every second of every day. Most of the Steem Witnesses actively engage in the Steemit Community , that's a reason why many users have upvoted them , in fact you can be upvoted as well if you're ready or willing to take on that position.
Check out the Official Steem Witness Voting :
https://steemit.com/~witnesses
What exactly is STEEM Witness expected to do ?
witnesses are supposed to run a reliable node, which comes with great value and also keeping and maintaining an accurate price feed is important, because it's very important to have an accurate USD peg of STEEM tokens to the Steem Dollar on the internal market. So in all , the version of the node that each witness is required to run will generally have a consensus, although presently there is not complete consensus on a curation rewards issue, resulting in a few different versions being simultaneously run . Steem Update version 0.14.0 did not go live according to original date which was scheduled because majority of the STEEM Witness did not agree to the update due to the fact that flaws were discovered.
A hardfork is basically a turnover in the business logic that powers STEEM. The STEEM network has many checks and balances to ensure that everything is vetted by a decentralized group of trusted (elected) people before taking effect. No hardfork would be allowed to take effect until at least 67% of the active witnesses have upgraded to the latest update.
Just because Steemit Inc. releases a new version of the Code does not mean everyone is supposed to upgrade to that new code.
So if you're thinking that Steemit Developer Control STEEM , you're Wrong!
Blocks are produced in rounds, 63 sec per round and 21 blocks per round. Every round, the top 19 witness accounts are delegated to produce a block, 1 block is produced by a backup witness, and 1 by a miner.
For each round ,21 witnesses are selected to create and sign blocks of transactions. 19 of these witnesses are selected by approved by voting, one is selected by a computational proof-of-work, and one is timeshared by every witness that didn’t make it to the 19 proportional to their total votes. The 21 active witnesses are shuffled randomly every round to prevent any one witness from constantly ignoring blocks produced by the same witness placed before.
This is a very important job that keeps the STEEM blockchain stabilized and updated to current external markets , this is why they are very valued by Steemit Community and in return of their hard work they receive an incentive. Steem witnesses are rewarded 1 Steem for each block they produce . Because the active witnesses are known in advance, STEEM is able to schedule witnesses to produce blocks every 3seconds
So this is what @yensesa wants to achieve and help promote Ghana and Africa.
So let's vote vote For yensesa as a witness.
This project needs all the help it can get .@ackza, @stellabelle, @reko, @justinashby, @yehey, @bleepcoin, @picokernel,@teamsteem, @sircork, @battleaxe, @creativesoul, @neoxian, @sweetsssj, @elgeko, @guiltyparties, @poeticsnake
@surfyogi as well are all in for this project
Thank you for reading. It's @enockagbo1