A Look at the Current Top 50 STEEM Network Witnesses

Who Are The Top 50 Witnesses & What Do They Do?

This article has been written as a general guide for the STEEM community to gain insight into who currently tops the 50 witness list and what sort of witness node reliability they bring to our STEEM network. Note that missed blocks is not a solid indicator of witness reliability and one must do their own research to find the perfect witness candidate to vote for.

Curious About Witnesses?

A witnesses primary job on the STEEM network is to run servers used to host and create new blocks for the network which in turn allow users posts, votes and comments to be committed to the blockchain. This is achieved through running the backbone client of our STEEM network steemd which is run on hundreds of servers worldwide ensuring that it is impossible for any one person, government, country or organization to gain control of or modify the STEEM blockchain to their advantage. Another one of the functions the witnesses serve is to maintain an up to date price feed of SBD to STEEM which serves as the raw data in which the internal market runs on as well as how the account value in your wallet is calculated and displayed.

While anyone running and maintaining an active witness node is eligible to produce blocks for the STEEM blockchain the majority of blocks are minted by the 19 top voted witnesses which are voted in by the users of the network. In addition to the top 19 witnesses constantly producing blocks backup witnesses and those in the miner queue are also shuffled in and given a chance to produce STEEM blocks when it is their turn to do so.

Top 50 Witness List

RankWitnessBlocks MissedPrice per STEEMRegistration FeeSteemDollar Interest RateClient Version
#1@complexring3730.477 SBD10 STEEM10%0.14.2
#2@riverhead10000.446 SBD10 STEEM10%0.14.2
#3@witness.svk2520.551 SBD10 STEEM10%0.14.2
#4@roadscape1290.495 SBD5 STEEM10%0.14.2
#5@smooth.witness1490.445 SBD10 STEEM10%0.14.2
#6@charlieshrem10.524 SBD5 STEEM10%0.14.2
#7@abit1670.467 SBD6 STEEM10%0.14.2
#8@jesta110.454 SBD10 STEEM10%0.14.2
#9@delegate.lafona2740.444 SBD10 STEEM10%0.14.2
#10@xeldal1430.456 SBD10 STEEM10%0.14.2
#11@bhuz930.462 SBD10 STEEM10%0.14.2
#12@pharesim5490.507 SBD10 STEEM10%0.14.2
#13@joesph2790.450 SBD10 STEEM10%0.14.2
#14@arhag620.460 SBD10 STEEM10%0.14.2
#15@blocktrades9390.507 SBD9 STEEM10%0.14.2
#16@datasecuritynode19290.510 SBD9 STEEM10%0.14.2
#17@anyx310.464 SBD19.4 STEEM10%0.14.2
#18@steve-walschot350.445 SBD10 STEEM10%0.14.2
#19@gtg20.468 SBD3 STEEM10%0.14.2
#20@clayop6890.476 SBD10 STEEM10%0.14.2
#21@liodani830.500 SBD10 STEEM10%0.14.2
#22@steempty2660.453 SBD7 STEEM10%0.14.2
#23@wackou1450.463 SBD10 STEEM10%0.14.2
#24@boatymcboatface790.456 SBD10 STEEM10%0.14.2
#25@pfunk570.440 SBD10 STEEM10%0.14.2
#26@steemed5040.456 SBD10 STEEM10%0.14.2
#27@jabbasteem10740.518 SBD10 STEEM10%0.14.2
#28@steemychicken15900.493 SBD3 STEEM10%0.14.2
#29@ihashfury490.453 SBD1 STEEM10%0.14.2
#30@au1nethyb11050.452 SBD10 STEEM10%0.14.2
#31@nextgencrypto11210.534 SBD10 STEEM10%0.14.2
#32@cyrano.witness1870.505 SBD20 STEEM0.1%0.14.2
#33@kushed13360.640 SBD (outdated)3 STEEM10%0.14.2
#34@bue1880.502 SBD3.888 STEEM10%0.14.2
#35@masteryoda1890.515 SBD10 STEEM10%0.14.2
#36@bitcube (dead)8820.794 SBD (outdated)1 STEEM10%0.13.0 (old)
#37@someguy12330.453 SBD10 STEEM10%0.14.2
#38@aizensou580.502 SBD3 STEEM10%0.14.2
#39@picokernel80.454 SBD10 STEEM12%0.14.2
#40@good-karma30.515 SBD6 STEEM10%0.14.2
#41@royaltiffany90.450 SBD10 STEEM10%0.14.2
#42@chitty690.451 SBD7 STEEM10%0.14.2
#43@crypto777360.450 SBD2 STEEM10%0.14.2
#44@steem-id580.457 SBD10 STEEM10%0.14.2
#45@paynode30.518 SBD5 STEEM10%0.14.2
#46@dele-puppy13432.017 SBD (outdated)20 STEEM10%0.14.2
#47@silversteem (dead)12880.571 SBD (outdated)8 STEEM10%0.13.0 (old)
#48@curie30.485 SBD9 STEEM10%0.14.2
#49@dantheman (dead)866No Record!0.001 STEEM10%0.14.2
#50@pumpkin229No Record!100 STEEM10%0.14.2

(Information above was sourced from SteemDB.com on Sept 28th, 2016)

Ideally witnesses in the top 50 list are people with a genuine interest in helping our STEEM network grow and have taken affirmative actions to ensure the continued adoption and success of the platform, the applications running on it and the many forms of currency and value it offers. While I'll save going into detail about each top 50 witnesses strengths and shortcomings for another article, it's rather important to point out not everyone currently voted into the top 50 list currently even has a valid witness node to find blocks running.. Whether or not these witnesses will make an effort in the future to keep their witnesses maintained and running properly while keeping a current price feed is up to them.

Want to Start up Your Own Witness Campaign?

Anyone is welcome to run as a witness and in a future post I will give detailed instructions on how you can join the witness ranks and help distribute and secure our network while being compensated with Steem Power (SP) for your efforts. Click my username (@klye) and follow me to stay up to date on my offering to the STEEM network!

Ready to Make Some Witness Votes?

Your witness votes DO matter! Every vote for any witness helps them climb the ranks and makes them eligible to create more new blocks which in turn powers up their account with Steem Power as a reward. While a number of witnesses actively power down and reap the profits of their elected position the ones that do not power down and witness for straight profit are the types of Steemfolk my votes tend to gravitate towards!

Cast Your Witness Votes Below:

https://steemit.com/~witnesses

(The witness you are looking for not on the top 50 list? Scroll to page bottom and enter username!)

Considering that you merely have 30 witness votes (and can vote for anybody running a witness node) it's entirely up to you to do your research as well as make your own decisions in regards to who you feel best represents you and what you intend the future of STEEM to become. The top 19 & top 50 are handsomely rewarded by the network for the services they provide, voting and housing inactive or ill-motivated witnesses in the top 50 hurts all of us that use the network. Remember that these top ranked witnesses are the ones whom keep STEEM running smoothly, without proper attention and care witness nodes may become unreliable and that could very well impact the performance and reputation of the platform if left unattended. Please consider researching what your voted witnesses do in terms of server reliability and community development/service to help us move forward as a unified collective as STEEM grows both in size and strength in the future.

Please Consider Voting @klye for Witness

Appreciate what I'm doing for STEEM? Vote for me on the witness page!
Voting for me to be witness is fast, easy and completed on the page linked below:

https://steemit.com/~witnesses

As of now I'm currently only ranked around #65 on the list and do not show up on the top 50.
However you can still vote for me by scrolling to the bottom of the page and typing klye:

Thank you for your votes and support!

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