In this article, we'll be **exploring** (~~stalking~~) the STEEM blockchain for the most interesting transactions, delegations, currency holdings, and more! 

We'll find out who the most rich users, the most influential bloggers, and the most popular witnesses are in the Steem Community. Let's get started!

# Stalking the Witnesses
First, let's start out by gathering some data about the various witness who help operate and protect our beloved blockchain. Below is a graph of the **top 50 STEEM Witnesses** and their vote distributions.
<center>![image.png copy.jpg](https://res.cloudinary.com/hpiynhbhq/image/upload/v1510010896/dpmpp3narcqmdpp0js4l.jpg)</center>
The dark leather-blue seen at the leftmost bar of @jesta and @timcliff is user **@freedom.** This user holds **over 7 million Steem Power** and has likely the most power on the blockchain itself. However, almost all of @freedom's Steem Power is delegated to various accounts.

Another interesting fact is that the light baby blue seen at the rightmost bar of every witness above is **Smaller Voters**, a bulk category for all voters with power less than the largest ones. 

The thing to notice is that consistently for the top witnesses this category is the _largest_ one. This shows that, for witnesses, attracting the votes of even minnows and smaller users matters as these can add up.

Additionally, users should not feel that they can only vote for the top 50 witnesses, as there are plenty more below that ranking who do a lot for the community. @reggaemuffin, @themarkymark, @arcange, @fubar-bdhr, and many more smaller witnesses come to mind. Below is a graph of the vote distribution for the _next_ fifty witnesses, where we can see that similar patterns hold.

<center>https://res.cloudinary.com/hpiynhbhq/image/upload/v1510011331/qfufarkfoxmkfefjkohb.jpg</center>

# Exploring Delegations
<div class="pull-right">https://res.cloudinary.com/hpiynhbhq/image/upload/v1510011510/ocskp5x5hdowel9e2lqn.png
</div>

Now, let's get into the world of STEEM Delegations! Delegating Steem Power allows another user to use your SP's vote worth when they vote. 

To the right is a list of the **biggest delegators** on the blockchain. These are accounts and users who have delegated _the most_ Steem Power to other users for various purposes.

Not so surprisingly, the top user on this list is the aptly-named @misterdelegation! Like @freedom (the second largest delegator), @misterdelegation holds 7 million Steem Power with over 4 million delegated out. 

<div class="pull-right">https://res.cloudinary.com/hpiynhbhq/image/upload/v1510011772/o9c6gbonsqncwuih8ye0.png
</div>

For such large stakeholders in Steem, @freedom and @misterdelegation are quiet and inactive accounts with no posts to show for it. <br><br>In the former case, @freedom mostly delegates to services who give payouts for delegation. Both @minnowbooster and @buildawhale are bots who reward delegation in recurring payouts, while @utopian-io rewards delegation in the form of shares as well. 

# The Most Influential Steemians
In this last and final ~~stalking adventure~~ exploration, we'll find out who the most influential and largest Steemians are in many categories.

First up, the Steemians with the **largest net worth** or account value. Below is a list of the top 10 most valuable Steemians:
<center>![image.png copy.jpg](https://res.cloudinary.com/hpiynhbhq/image/upload/v1510012639/mpoakkhhvenjlao4ptg9.jpg)
</center>

It's not so surprising that Steemit Inc's account @steemit holds the largest amount of Steem Power (SP) and is the most valuable account on the blockchain. @poloniex and @bittrex are up next with @blocktrades not too far behind; these are the largest _exchanges_ allowing conversions/trading with STEEM and SBD. 

Thankfully, the only whale on this list currently powering down is @dan, due to Dan's recent departure from Steemit. The others are safely holding onto their Steem Power as shown.

And for our final chart, we'll look at the **most reputable** accounts (the users with the highest reputation):
<center>![image.png copy.jpg](https://res.cloudinary.com/hpiynhbhq/image/upload/v1510013230/lzxfrrcs4sgzgu6gxglw.jpg)
</center>

From this list, we see that the most reputable account is @steemsports, a project launched by @thecryptodrive, holding an unimaginable `78` on the reputation scale (and almost halfway to `79`)! Interestingly, @steemsports also has the second-lowest account value on the list, likely due to powering down.

@steemcleaners, an account dedicated to fighting spam, plagiarism, and abuse on the blockchain is also incredibly high at over `75`.  Reputation is **logarithmic**; this just means that it's about ten times harder to go from one reputation to the next. For example, it's ten times harder to get from `58` to `59` compared to getting from `57` to `58`, though I am still persevering in this journey! 😜


### Conclusions!
There exist many tools to help you ~~stalk~~ explore the intricacies of the blockchain, with the two I used being [SteemReports](https://steemreports.com) and [SteemWhales](http://steemwhales.com). 

Through exploration, we can quickly figure out details and patterns in voting, delegation, and transactions and we can uncover interesting information about the most superlative users on STEEM. Thanks for being on STEEM!

----- 
<div class="pull-right">
<a href="https://facebook.com/mooncryption/"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/hpiynhbhq/image/upload/v1509291482/n2cpe4whgkecrneyd8t9.png" /></a>
<a href="https://twitter.com/@mooncryption/"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/hpiynhbhq/image/upload/v1509291335/igz3x53xikqiafldawjm.png
" /></a>
<a href="https://steemit.com/@mooncryption/"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/hpiynhbhq/image/upload/v1509291555/x0run6mvktdqykpdsti4.png
" /></a>
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCN83ldeo5Z148Xpq3pIB7cw"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/hpiynhbhq/image/upload/v1509291608/rlml4gna5ytrpfckn1fr.png" /></a>
</div>

Thanks for reading, 
— @mooncryption 

**image sources:** [1, 2, 3, 4](http://steemreports.com), [5, 6](http://steemwhales.com)
**witness:** Though I don't run a witness myself, I will give out recommendations on who to vote! My current witness recommendations are @reggaemuffin, @lukestokes.mhth, and @aggroed! 😊