Thecryptodrive, or Ricardo Goncalves, boasts the first and longest-running Steemit Witness from the continent of Africa. Located in South Africa specifically, Ricardo touches an increasingly wide number of projects related to the Steem ecosystem. There is a good chance that he has had a hand in a service that you or a Steemian close to you has used.
Ricardo initially created the @Steemdrive campaign, a fundraising project to get the Steemit logo on large outdoor media. The initial announcement post garnered an incredible $27,037 in rewards and quickly funded billboards in Durban, South Africa.
He is also the creator or @Steemsports, an attempt to potentially disrupt the $3 trillion industry of sports betting by using vote power for bets and payouts instead of fiat money. @Steemsports remains one of the most active posters on the Steemit platform, with a reputation of 78!
Further, he is the CEO behind the unified build team for @MinnowBooster, an SP-leasing-for-profit service, and @Steemvoter, a voting bot service that allows you to set rules to auto-vote at the cost of up to 7 of your votes, per week.
Opinions on these initiatives are mixed at best. It would be a lie to say everyone agreed with these uses of Steem or the related service conglomerates. Ultimately, it’s up to each user to judge for themselves.
For example, the announcement post for the merger of SteemVoter and MinnowBooster garnered numerous flags and mostly negative commentary (note that most of the upvotes were likely cast by SteemVoter as their "fee"; using the service "costs" some of your votes):
You don’t reach a “positive” comment until the 6th-top level comment, and it’s a clear case of poorly camoflauged “i upvote resteem u, u vote me?”:
Thecryptodrive holds 80,000 SP, and is NOT powering down. In a "revelation" that will shock no one, he leases SP via @MinnowBooster.
Thecryptodrive’s Current Witness Update: @thecryptodrive/witness-update-two-killer-features-for-steem-comments-wanted
Thecryptodrive's Original Witness Thread: @thecryptodrive/ricardo-goncalves-thecryptodrive-first-steem-witness-in-africa-a-witness-for-the-people
Steemdrive: @steemdrive
Steemdrive Billboard Thread: @steemdrive/steemdrive-first-proof-of-successful-crowdfunded-billboard-flight-in-durban-south-africa
Steemsports: @steemsports
Steemvoter / Minnow Booster “Controversial” Unification Thread: @steemvoter/steemvoter-and-minnowbooster-are-joining-forces
Please see the acknowledgement post here.
If you have any additions or errata for this post, please let me know! I will see that they are voted to the top of the comments, and will make the appropriate edits (if possible).
We also have a Radio Station! (click me)
...and a 4800+ user Discord Chat Server! (click me)
Sources: @thecryptodrive, @steemdrive, @minnowbooster, @steemsports
Copyright: @thecryptodrive, @steemdrive, @minnowbooster, @steemsports