This is not to be confused to @stackin, one of our most beloved Steemians.  Shout out to him.

<center>![image.png](https://ipfs.busy.org/ipfs/QmTckRmzTiZ2F2becFJEXZTQuAnVB6P25Jdh3j2PjDuxjv)
[Source](https://www.facebook.com/startstackin/)</center>

I was talking with a developer today running a particular idea by him.  He really thought it sensible and is going to look into it to see how it would work from a technical perspective.  The goal is for what was discussed to be integrated into the application he already has working.

For the sake of confidence, I am not going to reveal the idea or the application but I can expound upon the general premise.

We are starting to see the ability to stack applications and tokens on top of each other.  Up until this point, everything basically worked in isolation.  While we had a single log in, which is one of the beauties of the Steem ecosystem, applications were basically operating on their own.

Even with that being the case, the past couple years saw a great deal of advancement in that area.  We have a number of applications that are enjoying success with others that are constantly updating their platform.  Over time, we will see many of these grow.

That said, we are all operating as part of the same cooperative.  Anyone who is holding STEEM benefits from any developments we make.  Thus, it only makes sense for the different applications to integrate with each other in whatever ways they can.  Since they really are not competitors, the more collaboration between them, the better we all are.

The idea that @aggroed brought to the table when discussing his vision of "Tribes" exemplifies things well.  He is trying to bring a number of the applications under one umbrella, thus providing the users (community) with an all-in-one solution.  The "Tribe" will be able to upload videos (D.Tube), stream (VIMM), use a forum (tokenBB), and blog.  

This is what I call stackin'.  We have the base layer which is what is coded in the blockchain.  This is basically STEEM and all that pertains to it.  Now we are seeing a thriving second layer emerge with all the different applications with one difference: many of them can now offer tokens.  Because of the work of the Steem-Engine team, many of the applications are now presenting their users with tokens.  This is bringing a new level of monetization to the ecosystem.

I think we will see many different ideas start to flourish from this basis.  We are now seeing the possibility of getting creative in our collaboration.  Instead of only having tokenization at one level, we can see it piled on top of itself.  The results of PALnet are evident.  People create a blog post yet can get paid in both SP/SBD and PAL.  The post is written once but paid on twice (albeit not likely in an even manner).  

If the integration works out, we might see the possibility of creating a stack that goes three deep.  Wouldn't that just be nifty?

The possibilities are only expanding.  Hang on kids, it is going to be a wild ride.

On another note, we could also see an announcement over the next few weeks dealing with some commerce.  I know a group that is working on the idea of a "store" being placed in their platform.  It is something, from what I can gather, that will tie into the overall focus of that community.  The details are sketchy but it sounds interesting.  

To me, it sounded like a cross between Etsy, Craiglist, and a traditional selling website.  I have no idea how payments would be handled or the dynamics of that yet was told something will be announced within a couple of weeks.

There is a lot of news starting to come out about different projects.  As one who tries to delve deep into what is taking place, I can attest to the fact it is getting hard to follow everything.  This is making it even more exciting knowing that I am uncovering only a percentage of what is actually taking place.

A lot of this sprung up because the development around Steem-Engine.  When that came out earlier in the year, I felt it was a game changer.  Adding a DEX to Steem that turned it into a token factory put us on par with EOS and ETH.  The fact that Steem also has smart contract ability means that we are in the game with those better known chains.  

I look forward to continued announcements and growth of the ecosystem.

Fun times ahead.
___
If you found this article informative, please give an upvote and resteem.

![image.png](https://ipfs.busy.org/ipfs/QmPvBkjBFuAKHQR7MacQ1679NryWNG5ZexgaPZdUmTo4so)


![image.png](https://ipfs.busy.org/ipfs/QmYRwbaYkV7kubaAqefvGi6kxW25EdzUdZRP8XWsRWXKTj)