The Interview a Steem Stakeholder Series is a project to help inform the community about the views of the largest Steem stakeholders. The goal is to help "regular users" better understand the views of the largest stakeholders on the platform, so they can better align their actions with what the stakeholders are looking for.
In this post, @steemed (a stakeholder with over 500,000 STEEM) answered several questions about his views on the Steem platform and community. Below are the questions that were asked and responses from the interview.
Keep in mind that the stakeholders are individuals, and not all of them will share similar views. The views expressed in the interview are the views of the one stakeholder conducting the interview. They are not intended to represent the views of all stakeholders.
If you are a stakeholder with 100,000 or more STEEM and would like to participate in an interview, please reach out to me on steem.chat or Discord.
The Interview with @steemed
How did you become a part of the Steem project?
I started mining in the first hours of the first launch and the first hours of the second launch.
When did you join?
March 22nd 2016 or so.
How did you acquire a majority of your stake?
Mined it.
How many STEEM tokens do you currently hold?
Let's say I have 500k+ on the chain. Undisclosed amounts elsewhere and perhaps on the chain too.
Do you have a large stake in any other tokens besides STEEM?
Yup a lot.
What Steem apps do you use on a regular basis?
steemd
What would you say repels investors or otherwise discourages investment in the Steem blockchain and STEEM tokens?
Team leadership is weak. Ideas are weak. Steemit stake is too big. Team leaders misuse their steem. Team leadership can not properly manage internal conflict. Lack of promising ideas. Lack of leveraging user base and existing token supply effectively. Mismanagement of existing token supply. Poor PR. Ill-conceived and unaddressed posting reward pool exploits. See all of above for why investors see little hope in making any progress on central economic issues. Shall I go on?
What would you say attracts investors or otherwise encourages investment in the Steem blockchain and STEEM tokens?
Fast, feeless, censorship resistant. None of these properties are adequately leveraged by the team. They don't even get it. I've tried. Like talking to a rock.
In addition to holding tokens, how else are you involved in the project?
I support some projects with my vote proxy, like burnpost, creative crypto, and sndbox.
What types of things do you do specifically to get a ROI on your investment?
Nothing. My proxy earns a small income in the way of voting rewards.
What are ways that "regular users" have potential to affect your investment in a positive way?
Use the platform.
What type of contributions do you consider to be adding value to your investment?
See the projects I support. There needs to be better curation efforts, whales should support this type of thing rather than looking at steem as an income stream. All whales that got in early are rich from other coins. There is no need to treat steem as a revenue source for most of us. Why not just leverage your voting power to improve the content. That said, if the posting rewards were better implemented, then using one's proxy to improve curation wouldn't be entirely necessary.
How do you discover and reward those types of contributions?
Oh, you mean post types, not projects. I proxy to the above mentioned projects. Problem solved.
Do you delegate SP to any projects? If so, what types of projects do you support?
sndbox, creative crypto, burnpost
How "hands on" do you expect to be in projects you support?
0 after I proxy my vote. It is valuable enough that the people entrusted to it have tons of incentive to use it effectively.
What type of accountability reporting do you expect to see from a project that you support?
None. I trust the curators I have proxied. They do great work.
What do you look for when casting witness votes?
People who aren't suckups to steemit and the team. Humility. Understanding of what is important about the platform.
Do you have strong views on any of issues that are frequently discussed, or any upcoming changes?
I am drifting away from day-to-day interest in steem. I'm just going to proxy my stake and see where it goes. I have time. Lots of it.
What would you like to see more/less of from "regular users"?
More platform use. Regular users are great. Insiders suck hard.
What sort of profit margins do you hope to see for your investment?
For my proxy: I don't really care. I may never liquidate. I'll support the project with my proxy for a long time. I have no interest in taking profit now or in the foreseeable future. I have made enough of an exit to ROI many thousands of times over already.
Do you have a time frame for how long you plan to hold STEEM? Or a price target?
I have some bags no one can track to me. Looking for $6+ on those. On my proxy, visible to on the chain, no horizon at all.
Do you believe that the delegating of SP to bid-bots as well as self-voting/circle-jerking is harmful to long-term ROI?
Only if the early team, insiders, and steemit do it. They know who they are.
What factors affect your decisions to go after short term returns that may hurt Steem in the long run vs. decisions to take a longer term strategy?
I'm always long term now that I have ROI'd. I'm not a typical crypto trader. I don't look for stable income or quick flips except for some masternodes I have in other coins.
Are there other forms of obtaining a good ROI from STEEM that you think will be possible in the long-term?
Yup, sell when adoption and value accumulation is much higher than now.
What do you think is the biggest disconnect between stakeholders and "regular users"?
The biggest disconnect is between steemit, the early team, and insiders with "regular users". Steemit, the early team, and insiders all got cheap, risk-free coins, and are largely known abusers of their stake.
If you strike it rich from STEEM, what do you plan to do with your money?
I've already ROI'd plenty and have diversified. If I unload further bags, I will diversify that as well.
Is there anything else that you would like to add that wasn't covered by the questions above?
Yeah, the team should look at what is important in crypto and try to achieve it, not chase trends. The reward pool should be evaluated. Onboarding new users should be improved. SMTs is a silly name, a concept of limited potential, and may have been exciting in 2015, but not in 2018 (or 2020 when I expect the release). Sadly, I doubt it will increase adoption at all. There are plenty of token platforms. Steem would be a great platform for smart contracts or sharding of some sort, but the team is working on useless tokens. Unbelievable.