Well, I think you have made cited out brilliant ideas but below are my points and suggestions;

I had been thinking that maybe Steem Inc should consider implementing a cut on payouts rather than implementing ads (which is the suggestion of many) but I have come to realize that Steem seems to be a dead bead at the moment and would not generate much income that is needed. So, maybe ads might helpful and preferable.

Moreover, Ned did transfer all his Steem  holdings to an exchange, I think bittrex. I am kind of wondering the fate of that huge amount of money presently.

Also, With some witnesses already talking about disabling their witness thread due high cost of operations and maintenance, I feel it is time to make some adjustments to the rewards for witnesses located outside top 20. As an example [@fbslo](https://steemit.com/@fbslo) did complain with [this post](https://steemit.com/dpoll/@fbslo/would-you-like-to-see-my-witness-running)

Talking about a consensus voting on which project to support and how much money to be allocated to a project sounds a brilliant idea and might be for those who are running a project or those who plan to run a project on the steem blockchain. I think Ned and Steemit Inc cannot accept to be part of this because they might feel hard done if their project is not approved. Taking his project **_"Destiny"_** as an example, he is yet to reveal what it is all about and how he plans to go about it.

Moreover, when you mentioned other blockchain, Tron comes to my mind and this is definitely because of the recent Twitter blast. I cannot my place my hands on how Steem can operate in conjunction with another blockchains without having disruptive problems in future. But if all this is possible, this might just be a perfect solution to this SMT stories.

Thank you for this opportunity to express myself.

@fulltimegeek has just posted that he has a solution. 

Posted using [Partiko iOS](https://steemit.com/@partiko-ios)

Congratulations @knircky!
Your post was mentioned in the [Steem Hit Parade](https://steemit.com/hit-parade/@arcange/daily-hit-parade-20181205) in the following category:

* Pending payout - Ranked 7 with $ 171,3

Why don’t steemit increase the payout as weku is doing like on weku you can get 0.40 $ vote per 200 wp but on steem we have 0.01 per 200 sp.
So if the payout increased, the new users will be attracted and in this way steemit can make its way to the top again.

Posted using [Partiko iOS](https://steemit.com/@partiko-ios)

>what do we do if we need SMTs but they are not coming.

Why would you need SMTs if they don’t yet exist? Why are projects making plans for SMTs when 1) they have not been created and 2) they have not been approved by witnesses? 

I’ve seen people claiming to have one of the “first SMTs” since they were announced well over a year ago. It’s just not smart to plan a project around them when we have no actual reliable info about what they’ll do and we’re relying on them being delivered by a company that consistently fails to deliver. 

And in my opinion, SMTs are not needed and will in fact do more harm than good. There are bigger problems that need to be corrected instead of fixating on ICO hype that peaked a year ago. I think it’s time to give up the pipe dream and move on to more practical things.

Why do you think SMT's aren't coming? @ned literally just posted an update on the timeline. Yes, they're releasing a lighter version of SMT's to begin with, but they didn't say they're not coming, this is a feature we've known about since the beginning.

SMT's are happening and we honestly just have to be patient and give STINC time to finish them. We've waited this long, what's a few more months? It's almost 2019.

From the little I know you're trying to see SMT has the end of steem,  No,  it isn't,  after SMT there will be still more development  going on,  many projects are still coming on board  this steemit  ship. 

Now to your question,  with Development Fund and Using other Blockchain,  Steem can decide to use any of them,  don't forget that this is a decentralised platform where voting  has to be done. 

Don't forget that Steem is yet to roll out so many plans  to generate revenue  or bring it to the table of the common man,  those on the street,  become a mainstream  blockchain outlet with its fast transaction  speed as an edge. By the time steemit  becomes all this,  trust,  you wouldn't  be asking this question anymore because business  would have opened here and there  and they'll  surely be monetise.

If we are going to think about an alternative to SMT I'd say both ideas are options, I just feel that one shouldn't be mutually exclusive of the other. A combination of the development fund + steemit inc looking at private investment + perhaps help from another blockchain in the interim is also an option. 

Regarding the fund, I just think that getting buy-in from enough stakeholders takes time and yes its beneficial for the ecosystem in the long run but by the time it takes to campaign you could have spent that effort raising private funding. 

Leveraging another blockchain just seems like duplicate work to me, id rather bite the bullet and go SMT first time if that were my two options

Another option is creating a centralised service that dapps can run on in the meantime and they are sync'd to the blockchain at a later stage. The service can come at a fee to dapp creators since they get the benefit of access to the steemit community!

Bitshares has been offering everything we need for user tokens. We don't need SMT.

Very disappointing :( SMTs were surely a big part of the reason STEEM shot to $8.

Development Fund is a good idea.
What Fund is more good?
I think to be competition Fund, such as "Nobel Foundation" "Le Guide Michelin" "Oscar Awards"
International reputation - World identity - celebrity - Red star - chasing Star
life of people, What is pursuit? Only both - Reputation and interest.
So me say more good fund is competition Fund.

What is the solution to a lack of SMT development?
Many websites solution are permanently suspended member account = eat away members' income.
Eating the entire property of the member or removing certain members to maintain his operation.
Don't join a website that will permanently stop,
That kind of website is terrible.
When you are permanently suspended,
No matter how you appeal,
He won't restore your account.
Because it is permanently suspended, most of them are judged by the administrator.
And the administrator won't admit his mistake,
Will say that you made their rules,
Will you think that you are not?
But the administrator thinks you have,
This is the gap between the two sides’ perceptions.
But you can’t compete with the official,
The result is that it is still permanently suspended.
If the website has tokens, you have already entered the amount of tens of thousands of dollars.
When you are suspended,
It’s not just the account that’s lost. There may be tens of thousands of e-currencies.
So any website that will be permanently suspended,
Advise everyone not to use it.
I have many friends.
Due to permanent stop her account, let he loss very much Electronic money.
her Electronic money Equal to being swallowed by the official.
Let him think,
Maybe the official is trying to swallow his money.
So any website that will be permanently suspended,
Maybe that beginning of the website,
it think eat money from her members So easy.

SMT´s might not come, but @ned just introduced **smt-lite**, which, by this time I´m sure you already read the post.

- **#1** *"HF that distributes some of the inflation money for development and a way for SP holders to vote on who shall receive the funds for what projects."* Implemented with a certain % is the way to go... I agree!
We need to make our processes more agile, and keep moving/supporting great ideas/projects that want to help STEEM reach another dimension.

- **#2** *"Use some other blockchain token in conjunction with steem?"*
For this I see a big problem, STEEM blockchain tried super hard to establish an image of an independent blockchain capable of surviving alone if all the others failed. By saying that I mean, we need to put our "ego" behind our backs and start being humble.

 - Maybe with the help and the vision of a different blockchain we can "cook" something great for the future.

- **#3** As many might know, I´m not a creator/entrepreneur, so I´ve never tried or plan to create a project here or anywhere else. So all I say about this subject is based on a personal opinion that is built from reading a lot of posts like this, where people with the right knowledge share and make me learn.

Let's remember that things look bad now mainly because of general crypto market conditions. No one predicted the total market cap of all crypto assets would be below 120B in December 2018. And yet here we are. 

I would say, for those that are able to develop and build great things, build them on Steem. For those that are able to contribute and add value to the Steem community, keep doing so and keep engaged. For those that invest in Steem for profit, accumulate now. 

Remember that Steem is still one the fastest, most powerful and most engaging blockchain application in the world, hugely undervalued and with massive potential. As always in the crypto markets, the situation will change with time, even when doing nothing radically different, the value of Steem will fluctuate and probably upwards from here. With Steem at $4 or more, things look radically different.

So what do we need to do?

Simply ride the storm. No fear. Steem on.

Please have a look at this recent [post](https://steemit.com/steemit/@frdem3dot0/time-for-steem-to-grow-up) which partially answers your question. 

Directly on topic I think that it is time for steemit to step back and leave the development to us. The way to finance it could be done similar to bitshares. There inflation is looked up in a fund and stakeholders vote on projects that this should be used for. Then these are implemented and funding is unlocked. It is an interesting idea. 

We already have a similar system here in the form of witness votes. I suggest to set (passive) inflation to 0% and use this to increase witness funding. Then we as a community demand that witnesses not only maintain the chain but also commit to implementing features. We choose what we want with our votes. 

Of course this can be corrupted by selling witness votes. But I think there is no way around this problem. Stakeholders need to realise that it is in their interest to fund development, especially when their stake is looked up for roughly 2 month.
People that do not contribute and hope that others do the work for them can be brought back in line when the community agrees by removing support. 

But apart from all of these technicalities, I think that we are held back by the idea that steemit should do the development. We are steem, we decide and we develop. Steemit is welcome to join, but they should not have a special role.

How about a fork?

One fell swoop, and the n2 comes back, the ninjamine is locked pending contingencies, the Steemit account fights abuse, and everybody gets their coins doubled.

Bare in mind that there are more witnesses outside the top 20 than in it, and the possibility of a certain few running rpc nodes for cash is a real thing.

We only lack assurances that we can get listed on the exchanges, which may not come until after the fork is stable, anyway.

With all the ned delegations out of the pool everybody's vote value goes up, too.

Dear @knircky, the situation in Steemit is total confusion and after @ned say they are firing 70% of workers the Steem price is continuosly falling down. With such price it is very appetible to buy some, but the main problem is that @ned is making a lot of shit to the community with his behaviour. People like you, @crypto.piotr and many others are trying to make Steemit better, but if there will be no a connection between whales like you to try to convince @ned to sell Steemit to someone who can drive it better, we will be destined to loose all our saving. I hope you can do something with some your friend to avoid it...:(((

i think making tokens on BTS aka bitshares is the answer... its same technology

> So now that we know that SMTs may not come at all or maybe in a limited way, my question really is: what do we do if we need SMTs but they are not coming.

Fresh road-map is here, and it says its coming:

https://steemit.com/steemit/@ned/rocksdb-and-smts-announcement

Livestream is rescheduled…

https://steemit.com/steemit/@ned/today-s-livestream-rescheduled

…but the expectations are still very high:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T80R9Rnk974

First of all I want to thank for the system that for months I have experienced that is the steem-bounty and for its new system that I am knowing, now with respect to the post I want to say that I think it would be a good idea to create in steemit an exclusive label for themes and projects that seek to facilitate money gains for users, since I believe that one of the problems that steemit has and can be addressed so that customers find more easily what they are looking for is that there are exclusive labels for what they are looking for, at least for have SMT that many users do not know what it is that it would be good to have an exclusive label for that, how can be earned and projects that seek that one win that, I think that trade would improve in steemit if there was better organization in the labels and that just like the discord there is a limit of channels where you publish what you do, I think that it would be easier to find content like this on criptomone labels das or digital economy

Hmmmmmmm.. its hard to think and decide at the moment. With @ned latest announcement, it got half the community panicking a bit.

*Why is Steem so low? Where is SBD again? What will happen this time? Who gest affected more? Is RC gonna be more restricted??*....blaah blaahh blaahh.. the list could go on. 

For us little rwd fishes, we have no choice but to wait and see.

Posted using [Partiko Android](https://steemit.com/@partiko-android)

Hey @knircky,
I am not pretty sure what SMTs means but from the comments and your text I believe that it is development of this platform and the funding of applications around it. 
Adding another or several blockchains to the projects are difficult in my opinion. I can imagince that it would make the application more complex to implement which would lead to a longer development phase.

I see here two options:
## Number one
Steem is creating a fund consisting of fiat and steem to back up the development of new applications. I am not aware how the problem is currently handled, but I would suggest a selection method. 

That means developer apply for that fund with a businessplan consisting of  their vision, their approach, their research, their calculation and so on. In the next step the Steem board already picks a pre selection meaning screening the ideas for success chances and scalability. Those picks get presented to the community and final selections are made by a majority votum.
 
With this approach you can already analyze the success within Steem. It also creates an excitment within the group because the voters are curious what is going to happen with their project. Furthermore, they get awareness for their project and can earn " a little extra" by posting their steps on Steemit.

I think what is really **important** here ist that the funded projects should be bounded to milestones. Each time a application finishes a specific target the funds pay a part payment. This would create pressure for the development team to meet the deadline in order to get paid. *Pressure enhances creativity*. Furthermore, it would prevent endless moving of releases.

## Number 2 
The developer can not do it full-time. Meaning that they should have a regular job to make their living. Developing an application for Steemit can be seen like a idea you think will work, you create in your "garage" throw it in the market and hope it will be a banger. 

It sounds hard for the developers out there, I am sorry but I believe current market prices and situations make funding atm quite difficult. But I also see that the community in Steemit is strong and a lot of people support eachother. 
This could lead to presenting your idea and maybe prototype, business plan here on the platform and users could act as angel investors. You can think of kickstarter in small. The opportunities are endless: User can buy shares of the company, product or service. 
---
I think there are solutions out there to solve that problem. I hope that i hit the topic here and contributed some value to the discussion. In case it didn't I am sorry and please ignore my post :)

Maybe this post of mine also contributes some value to the discussion:
[Introducing the idea of a Steemit consulting community - Simple help for everyone's problem](https://steemit.com/steem/@mcnestler/introducing-the-idea-of-a-steemit-consulting-community-simple-help-for-everyone-s-problem)

Have a good one
M

So ... @ned doesn't want to spend the bank on SMT development ...
but a lot of us Steemians want it ... and would benefit from it ...

do you think @ned would be mad if we just got it done??? He would benefit from it too...

 Aren't there a bunch of devs on the platform ... and a bunch of whales?
Couldn't we just use @fundition to raise money ... ??
Step 0: Create group of individuals passionate/committed about creating SMT's ( ... Council of Elrond style)
Step 1: Create framework for dev. of SMT's
Step 2: Define cost basis for creation
Step 3: Launch crowdfunding campaign w/ checkpoints based on dev. milestones
Step 4: Crush it??

Now ... I'm not a dev ... so I have no idea how complex this would actually be ... however I can assume that there are a semi-fixed number of steps between now and having SMT's on the blockchain. I also know that there are a lot of people that want to see SMT's happen for various reasons. I can then safely assume that there are potential future scenarios where we successfully work together to accomplish **said goal**.

Why don't we try it?? I'll throw some Steem and labor hours.

Plus ... if we accomplish it we will all make a lot of money and then we can throw a big party!! Boat's and hos for all!!!!
![tenor.gif](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmbFB9PsFysnruJ29CajkEZad8as2risgaWzbzJpfjpyoa/tenor.gif)

I think there should be a split in the rewards pool at some % which is specifically divided into three parts-developers,advertising and then comes stake holders, incentives and blah blah blah. 

I always feel that any company or project cannot succeed without advertising. I accept it that the rewards pool should be much more minute than the other two but just tell me how often do you come across advertisements while browsing or watching videos. Really rare or mostly never except some shit ICOs and some good ones as well. I think a temporary referral system will also be helpful. If you think advertising companies don't like it. The point is we need more roots to the Steem ecosystem. Yep it is true people add value to the ecosystem. No need to connect to other side chains and stuff. We also have to help developers by opening up a donation dApp. @knircky has created Steem-bounty to increase interaction just like that we need something through which we can directly donate to developers and I also wish developers can be helped in promoting their posts so that they get the whole support and also criticism from Steemians about a project. I think increasing the payout period from 7 to 10 or 12 will help cut down Steem outflow. These were my opinions. I welcome criticisms and appreciations equally. Thank you!
Bi

I like the idea of the development fund!  The concept is similar to a thought I once commented here after Hard Fork 20 in that the blockchain Dash has a similar mechanism in that every block mined segregates a portion to a pool for the development and marketing of the blockchain.  This could not only help with SMT development but other key future developments that will be needed to continue to support the ecosystem.

However, the short term seems to be more of a focus due to the market conditions we continue to witness.  I would propose a SMT for the key infrastructure needs that the ecosystem currently needs.  I am not a technical expert but have read that running a full node among other infrastructure requirement are expensive.  We should decentralize it completely with a DAO/DAC (Decentralized Organization) that issues SMTs to fund the infrastructure.  The organization will then earn revenue by charging for access to its services which are then used for its maintenance and continued development and growth.  Services could be paid in the SMT and net earnings less a development fund fee would be distributed to SMT holders.  Just a thought despite not knowing much about the technical aspects of it all.

While on the one hand I like the potential upside of SMT's. This is also a good point. If magically SMT's were released tomorrow in all their glory, the only thing we'd be depending on still is hype. There wouldn't be some sudden inflow of EARNED cash. People would still need to then build solid and stable businesses which if they REALLY wanted to and had the ability to, they could do right now with STEEM.

I think people have convinced themselves that SMT's are the second coming of STEEM, but I think we might be better off just focusing on creating a coherent user experience that can be sustained and maybe I dunno...earns some money?

SteemTRON

I don't think you necessarily need a separate blockchain in conjunction in parallel with Steem while you wait for SMT. With the recent announcement, I am currently working under the assumption that SMTs will show up eventually. I guess we'll just have to wait until January to figure out if SMTs are just empty promises.

Assuming SMTs are coming, then a simple database level tracking of each Steemit's users tokens can work. Obviously, the trust will have to be there since we'll have a lot less visibility into what is happening behind the scenes of these tokens or what will happen upon SMT conversion. A couple of examples of systems already using this are Actifit.io and Partiko. Both have an internal token tracking system without an attached blockchain. Both tokens don't directly have value, but provide some type of benefit to users. Actifit's "tokens" seem to be factored into individual votes while Partiko's can be spent to get upvotes on a post. I feel investing in separate block chains at this point would be a poor choice for the limited time. If SMTs get put off indefinitely, then the whole block chain is probably in trouble.

I know it's probably not the most exciting solution, but the intermediate step of tracking tokens and waiting for SMT to come online seems like the safest choice.

@knircky, Ned Made an announcement today regarding SMT. 
I am not sure if you seen it yet or not but below is the link.

https://steemit.com/steemit/@ned/rocksdb-and-smts-announcement

For me ( @rentmoney ) I don't think adding more tokens is the solution for Steem success. As noted in Ned's previous announcement there was a massive lay off in the steem team. Currently Apps / extensions are using Steem resources for free. Nothing is free in this world and if someone wants to run an app / extension then they should contribute to the bills. Placing adds up  would go along way as well to bring in revenue. New users need more room to post and comment, the RC system is too restricting.  Simplify the user interface. Sometimes less is more.