Steemit Inc put out an announcement yesterday that contained a major piece of news. 

The development of SMTs are done.  This means all the code is written and we are nearing the next phase which is the testnet.

Most likely the reason for holding off on the announcement is the fact that the last part of what was written still requires review.  This process could reveal minor changes which would need to be addressed.

For this reason, the burn up chart that followed the progress of the development will no longer be released.

Here is what the announcement had to say about this.

>With SMT development now done (just awaiting review which could reveal minor additional work) the next major announcement from the blockchain team will be the release of the testnet which we expect to happen in 1-2 weeks!

https://steempeak.com/steem/@steemitblog/blockchain-update-platform-independent-state-files

This is major news and something the community has been waiting on for close to two years.  After hearing promise after promise, the SMT code is now in place.  Over the next week or so, the review process will be completed (along with any changes required), and then it is on to testnet.

To me, this is one of the most optimistic signs for Steem.

<center>https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmPxeJiD3aFn2UABDa2cQj8nc1nkT47VvXhR8VbMnxVuLF/SMTs%20coming.jpg
[Source](https://steemit.com/steem/@steemitblog/smart-media-tokens-are-coming)</center>

The importance of this cannot be understated.  To start, to all goes to credibility.  One of the major reasons Steemit Inc has a credibility problem is because of the non-release of SMTs.  We heard discussion about them since 2017 yet nothing transpired.  This provided a great deal of uncertainty since "tokenizing the Internet" depends heavily on this protocol.

Another reason why this is wildly optimistic for Steem is because it is so unique to what is out there.  This is a specialized protocol meant to provide a turn key solution to any individual or entity seeking to monetize a site.  There is a three year track record of token distribution using the content/reward system.  SMTs will allow anyone to mirror exactly what took place with STEEM.

Contained in the next hard fork will also be the Resource Credit Pool which is going to allow application that ability to acquire what is needed to enable users to be active.  This will, hopefully, address the on-boarding issue that Steem presently suffers from.

As I wrote in a couple weeks back, this is shifting the direction things will go in with Steem in terms of users.  Instead of trying to attract people to Steem, this will bring Steem to them.  Since there are sites with active users, providing a protocol that the owner can implement to tokenize that site immediately makes every user a candidate for Steem.

While the user base might have no interest in Steem or what is taking place here, it does care about what is posted on the site implementing the SMT.  Hence, Steem has a built in user base ready to sign up.

At this point, once testnet is released, we are looking at an estimated 4-6 months before the hard fork takes place.  From what I understand, we can expect a 90 day testnet period since this is such a major update.  Even with that, we should anticipate some bumps along the way.

For those who suffered through the trials and tribulations of the past couple years, we are starting to see the breakthrough that many of us expected.  I always felt certain that those who were dedicated and remained active on Steem would eventually get rewarded.  This day appears to be getting closer.

We already gained some insight into the potential of SMTs with Steem-Engine tokens.  The difference between the two, I feel, is that SE is dividing up the existing Steem user base; SMTs are going to penetrate existing sites meaning more new users.

The future is looking very bright for Steem.  Completion of the SMT coding is a major milestone.

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