Full disclaimer…This blog post is just me thinking out loud. And I’m not claiming to be the expert here because I’m not the sharpest tool in the shed when it comes to blockchain tech. So if I say something that makes zero sense, please remember…I’m just a passionate user of the blockchain. I believe in STEEM and in the community.
A few days ago, I came across this tweet from @AdeTorrent . He was taking part in the amazing #Seven77 challenge and mentioned something that I can’t stop thinking about…
At first, you say to yourself…Cool, companies paying their employees with upvotes. And you read that over a few times…
And then it hits you! Well at least…it hit me 😉
A startup company, gets involved with STEEM…Starts buying some Steem and powers it up. They have a healthy stash of this stuff and starts paying their employees with upvotes.
The question would be then,how much Steem would they need to power up…
This is when I started thinking (which isn’t always a good thing…)
I took a peek around some of the largest holders of Steem Power which of course led me to Steemit Inc.
They currently hold over 33 million Steem Power which on the market today if it was powered down would be about 14.2 million dollars. That’s a hefty chunk of change…But it’s pocket money for some start ups with the funding they get.
But let’s say in a perfect world ‘Company X-Steem‘ gets that similar amount of Steem Power and now has some cool options…
The first option is they have a staff of around 10 people. With each employee hired for an average of $75,000 a year. Now I know that may seem like a lot to some, or disrespectful to others…I’m just trying to build an example here 🙂
Paying 10 people 75k a year would amount to 750k a year in salaries. Which is again, a sizeable amount of money…But what if this company starts paying their employees with upvotes. And saves 750k a year on salaries…
Hmmmmm…..75k a year would be around $200 a day. Or…In the chart above, a 25% upvote!
Do you see what I’m getting to here…
They could basically pay their entire work force while only using up about 5%-7% of their full 100% upvoting power….A DAY!
And let’s all remember….That voting power is renewed daily as well…So they can upvote again…Maybe even hire out some contractors for free lance workers, hire more staff, whatever they need…All while not touching their profits.
They pay their entire staff with the rewards pool.
That’s fine and dandy…But let’s look at some other things they can do with their Steem Power.
Remember they have only used about 5-7% of their voting power by upvoting their staff, and they still have all that Steem Power to play with.
They could delegate!
‘Company X-Steem’ could literally become an angel investor on Steem and fund all the projects they want. They get rewarded from their delegation (depending on the project). All the while still keeping 100% of their profits for whatever business they may be in.
To me that is mind blowing and I’m still trying to figure out if it’s too good to be true…lol
But here’s a big one….Let’s say they want to build a loyal community, look at that 1% vote…If I had that kind of Steem Power I would hire a curation team for the start up and get them to upvote 100 people a day. Still, only a fraction of your avalaible upvote…THAT GETS RENEWED EVERY 24 HOURS!!!! And that gets them over $8 in rewards…How LOYAL do your customers become?
Again…The things you can do with Steem Power especially on a business level blow my mind!
Is this the future that @AdeTorrent envisioned?
What are some draw backs from it?
I have spent the past few days discussing this idea in the @SteemSavvy live streams as well as our Discord community and @RichardTaylor was playing devil’s advocate. His biggest concern was the fluctuations in the price of Steem.
Someone like me that has a 3-5 year game plan for this blockchain has ZERO problem with being paid in upvotes.
I receive Steem Power that gets vested plus the SBD that is liquid to pay the bills if I choose the 50/50 reward payout.
But for people not as obsessed with the blockchain…They still want fiat to pay the bills. I understand their reservations…
Another issue could be taxes, insurance and other fun things employers must pay. Which may not be the easiest to go through in 2019, but I do believe accountants are getting more in tune to the blockchain and it’s business potential.
But what am I missing?
Is there something I have not thought about? Is there things I’m overlooking?
I’d love to hear your feedback on this idea…
And if you also see the future that Ade mentioned earlier this week…And this future that I believe…Is coming soon!
—-
