Base Layer Tokens Fading Into The Background And The Emergence Of Application Tokens

Yesterday, in a post that @Paulag put up that I responded to in a video, @yabapmatt had an excellent about what he is trying to do for the future of Steem. It is a viewpoint that I hold also believing that things are evolving.

https://steempeak.com/steem/@paulag/smt-s-and-steem-engine-tokens-why-i-think-its-a-waste-of-time

Basically, the essence of the post is that she feels that SMTs and Steem Engine tokens are a giant waste of time. In my video, I explain why it is the exact opposite and how more tokens are needed.

https://steempeak.com/dtube/@taskmaster4450/9hu00u45567

Matt's comment is the first one posted in her article and brings up some good points.

Basically, I hold the view that blockchains will fade into the background. We talk about them now but they are not going to be the focal point going forward. The same is true for the tokens that are tied to them. That does not mean those tokens are going to be worthless. On the contrary. The ones that have strong communities built on them will have great use because of the number of transactions taking place.

What is going to be important is what applications users are engaging upon. That is what will determine what tokens are used and valued. I maintain that there could be a number of tokens built upon Steem that have more value, overall, than STEEM does. A highly successful application could do that.

Matt used the analogy of Amazon Web Services and Netflix. He was right to point out that when people are using that app, they are not aware that it is all hosted on AWS. Most likely, other than a few investors, nobody cares as long as it works.

In spite of that Amazon Web Services is worth a ton of money to Amazon. The value as a back end piece, in this instance video hosting, is extremely valuable. Networks, by the same token, a viewed the same way.

One of the examples I like to use is that of the New York Times and Wall Street Journal. These are two well known publications with sites that get a lot of traffic. The average person does not realize they are actually Wordpress sites.

Wordpress is well known to bloggers and provided an easy way for people to set up websites. Yet, few know that some of the largest websites in the world are from them.

Let us say, for argument sake, that the Fortnight token was set up on Steem. This is a game played by tens of millions all over the world. If the token was woven into the game, all transactions would take place on Steem. However, other than needing some SP to transact, most of the players would have no idea it was on a blockchain called Steem. To them, it really would not matter.

Those of us here now came for a variety of reasons. Being an early adopter meant joining when there was not a lot in terms of options. Some came here to blog; other to speculate on the token; some for the potential freedom provided. Whatever the reason, we most likely were not drawn in because of a particular application (other than maybe blogging).

At some point, which I do not think is too far down the road, the next wave of people to enter cryptocurrency will do so because of applications. They will find something that interests them and start participating. Joining to earn a bit of money might be a motive but not the sole one. The applications will hold some interest.

This will be true for all blockchains, not only Steem. In fact, there are many applications already appearing which are multi-chain. When an application is posting to a couple different chains, ultimately, for the user, how important is the blockchain to them. The truth is that person might be on two chains simultaneously.

I was reading a thread last night on Bitcoin maximalism. To me, this is absurd no matter how bullish one is on Bitcoin. To say there is Bitcoin and all else is s**t is missing a major part of what is taking place.

From a speculation point, the days of just looking at a token based upon a white paper and promises netting more than a quick pump might be over. There will come a time when development needs to take place.

Take BitcoinSV for instance.

It is nestled between EOS which is one of the more populated chains in terms of development (and has a company with $4B behind it) and Stellar which is being used, in part, by IBM. Yet, somehow this entity is worth $2.5B.

Perhaps it is the fact BitcoinSV has the next Steemit killer: Yours.org.

This is a blogging site that pays people in BitcoinSV. Looking at the new page, here is what I found:

The latest posts were three that were made 15 hours ago. I didn't bother to scroll back to see how new this site is so there is that issue that could be entering the picture.

I looked to blocktivity.info to see where this chain ranked, it was not listed among the 31 listed as having activity. Certainly, this might not be to most reliable source but you would think that something would show up.

So I ask, what is actually taking place on this blockchain? What is going to draw people to it other than the Bitcoin name? In the next year or two, what is going to attract people to there as opposed to the other blockchains that have stuff being developed upon them?

I mean honestly, are the tens of millions of Fortnight users going to care about STEEM, EOS, Ethereum, or Bitcoin if they are transacting in the FORT tokens which allow for them to buy and sell digital assets that pertain to their game?

Does anyone sign up for Netflix because it is hosted on AWS? I surmise the answer is no.

I will say there are probably some people who do buy Amazon Stock, in part, because of companies like Netflix being on AWS.

And this something that we could see on Steem. People could be buying the token, in part, because of kick-ass application is housed here.

Ultimately, a token like STEEM will represent the base layer, deriving valued based upon what is built on top. At the core of this is the concept of requiring Resource Credits, through SP, to transact. Someone is going to have to be holding that SP.

After all, how many people type in an IP address such as 64.233.160.0? Actually the answer is millions of people a day since this is one of the IP addresses that Google uses.

Many use it and do not even know it.

I believe the same will be true for base layer tokens. People will be using them without even being aware of it.

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