Steem (STEEM) is the decentralized cryptocurrency of the social news service of the same name, built on blockchain technology. It was created by Ned Scott and Dan Larimer and released in March 2016. Steem tokens are issued for publishing, voting on and commenting on content in the network.

What Steem can do

The foundation of Steem is the Steemit social network. The currency and the network are tightly linked, because the whole idea of Steem is to earn by being active on Steemit. By posting content and rating other people's content, a user can earn.

There are three currencies inside the Steem environment: Steem itself, Steem Power (SP) and Steem Backed Dollars (SBD). Steem is the more universal coin and can be bought on an exchange. Steem Power and Steem Backed Dollars can only be obtained by exchanging Steem for them. Steem Power is what you need in order to curate on Steemit: when you rate content, you receive SP, while the content's author receives SBD. Steem Backed Dollars are unique within Steem because they are protected from volatility. In this way the developers help protect users' funds and encourage more active use of Steem's "internal" currencies.

Key features of Steem

1. No fees.
2. Earnings for every user who creates interesting content.
3. No spam or advertising in the feed.
4. Complete freedom from censorship.