In the span of 6 days, we got two major announcements from the Steemit development team.  A week ago, we were told of the release date of Hard Fork 20.  Then yesterday, we received notice of when the Smart Media Token (SMT) and the testnet will be released.

![image.png](https://ipfs.busy.org/ipfs/QmYSZDJYXFX344hYzyEqTmzmQNQQWhtpn7Nq3B7A29Qtqi)


According to the blog posted by @steemitblog, the testnet will be released on January 15, 2019 with the official release of the SMT protocol taking place on March 24, 2019.

https://steemit.com/steem/@steemitblog/smts-release-dates

This is incredible news and something we were waiting for.  Now we just have to see it pulled off.

>Essentially, SMTs will allow for an established website, blog, app, platform, etc to connect with the Steem network and run the Steem blockchain protocol, allowing their users to monetize their engagement. This opens the doors to an entirely new method of content and community monetization for content creators and website/app owners.

>“Excitement has been building since we announced SMTs last year, and we are now ready to share the release date for this protocol thanks to the hard work of our engineering team,” said Ned Scott, CEO of Steemit. “SMTs represent a future in which everyone has the opportunity to leverage blockchain and cryptocurrency technology without being a blockchain expert.”

https://coincentral.com/steemit-announces-release-date-for-smart-media-tokens/

I wrote a post yesterday about TOKENBB, which is a forum plug in that is being designed for Wordpress websites.  This is a great application to show the ability of Smart Media Tokens.

Some who has a Wordpress blog or site will be able to use TOKENBB to add a forum to his or her blog/site.  This will help enhance the user experience with that site while also, and more importantly, allowing the users to receive compensation for their contributions to the site.  

Think about the different ways the users could be compensated.  Since TOKENBB is a STEEM based application, all data is posted to the blockchain.  This means it uses the existing content/reward system we are so familiar with.  Hence, those posting and commenting can earn STEEM.

Another way they could get incentives is if TOKENBB brings out a SMT itself.  Consider the possibilities of all sites that use this plug in give their users the ability to earn another token that TOKENBB creates using the SMT protocol.  Here is a second incentive.

There is a third way that these same users can be rewarded.  If the site, itself, decided to make a token for activities undertaken on there, this would be the final way one could be paid.  

This is the power that the creation of Smart Media Tokens might have.  **Since 3 tokens can be used by any site or application, it opens up the possibility for people to be rewarded multiple times for the same content.**  This is a feature that I am sure will attract a lot of attention when this is released.

![image.png](https://ipfs.busy.org/ipfs/QmSorFnCeb1k9qN9W4y2h1JbaBW7SwANQiHdd3TqftMgCN)

<center>[Source](https://coincentral.com/steemit-announces-release-date-for-smart-media-tokens/)</center>

For the past 7.5 months, FUD reigned supreme.  The entire time development was taking place.  We noted many of the advancements regarding the applications.  Yet, as the last two announcements by @steemitblog show, there was a lot of work taking place on their end also.

Now that there is a release date, application developers can create a schedule of how they are going to proceed.  This will really help them to have their entire project, application and token, on the blockchain by the end of March.

Hang on boys and girls, it is starting to get very interesting around here.

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