I have been reading a lot of stuff about SMTs lately and i was lucky i found some posts that do an amazing job at simplifying the concept enough as a first step to deeper understanding.
I have skimmed the Whitepaper and honestly the claims made there are amazingly humble when it comes to the problems this could potentially solve.
The clear benefit is of course the monetizing of any internet content creation website and even beyond that by simply buying in into some STEEM.
This is the first use case of this kind i heard off that completely destroys any and all needs for thousands of other coins and tokens.
Lets be honest here and take for example Musicoin (just because).
In order to have that website create any kind of value beyond what a similar old school site can do, you need to build a blockchain under it and then mine the coins and then wait for outside investment so the creators might have some kind of payment there.
They do offer music basically for free and pay creators through views but there clearly is no earning potential for the viewer.
The exact same site could be created with SMTs implemented and by simply interacting not only would the creator get payed but the viewer as well. Those viewers, commenting, liking, all they would need to do was interact to earn $.
Now do a comparisson to the benefits of both systems, the feeless and 2 second transfers, possibility of creating internal markets, potential to pay creators for concerts with the SMT, potential to utilize the tokens for advertising and you come to a clear conclusion that with SMTs there is absolutely no need for specific type, individual blockchains like Musicoin and thousand others..
And all you need is to buy some STEEM to get your SMT started
I am fairly confident that SMTs are shitcoin killers or (alt coin to be nicer since some to offer value). The STEEM blockchain is cool and all, but STEEM alone has never offered such a real world solution and use case.
Sure you could name ERC20 as an example but that is firstly expensive and does not offer a 2 way benefit. You are still sitting there waiting for external investment. Youre basically at the same point as if you launched your own bc and built from the bottom up.
I really consider SMTs to be a shitcoin killer but as always we musnt underestimate the stupidity of the markets.
@donkeypong made an amazing post a year back after the announcement which got me into investigating into SMTs. Check it out. Its much better written then my ramblings. @donkeypong/the-day-the-paywalls-died-how-steem-s-smart-media-token-saved-my-family-s-newspaper
Truly if SMTs dont bring a major change im going to eat my hat and my shirt. Hell, ill be a on a month long cotton meal plan. 😆