Latest Steem (STEEM) News Update

Deep Dive

1. @Tokocrypto: STEEM surges 25% in daily rally bullish

"STEEM naik 25%, kini diperdagangkan $0,0655."
– @Tokocrypto (Followers N/A · 2026-02-18 02:44 UTC)
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What this means: This is bullish for STEEM because it signals short-term trader interest and momentum, potentially drawing attention to the otherwise quiet asset.

2. @jayplayco: Historical analysis of Steem's rise and fall neutral

A thread details Steem's 2016 launch, "Write to Earn" model, founder departure, the 2020 fork to Hive, and challenges like whale dominance and bot content.
– @jayplayco (10,053 followers · 2025-07-09 09:39 UTC)
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What this means: This is neutral for STEEM, providing crucial context that its current niche status stems from past structural and community issues, tempering hype with reality.

3. @steemit: Ongoing community contests to reward engagement bullish

"Join the weekly contest to get rewarded for your interactions on Steem!... Top 5 users each win 2 STEEM!"
– @steemit (107,895 followers · 2025-11-11 06:00 UTC)
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What this means: This is bullish for STEEM because it demonstrates active efforts to sustain the core platform's utility and token demand through consistent, small-scale rewards.

4. @HivePolish: Reflection on "nine years of loss" for STEEM/HIVE bearish

"Nine years of loss - reflections on HIVE / STEEM"
– @HivePolish (609 followers · 2025-08-09 20:45 UTC)
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What this means: This is bearish for STEEM as it captures long-term holder disillusionment, highlighting the significant price decline and unresolved sentiment from the community split.

Conclusion

The consensus on STEEM is mixed, caught between recent price momentum and deep-seated narratives of decline. While official channels push engagement to sustain the ecosystem, veteran voices underscore the project's struggle to regain relevance. Watch whether the spike in trading volume translates into sustained on-chain activity or user growth.

Deep Dive

1. STEEM Surges 25% on Market Update (18 February 2026)

Overview: Indonesian exchange Tokocrypto listed STEEM as a top-performing altcoin, noting a 25% price increase to approximately $0.0655 in its daily news update on 18 February 2026. The update framed the move as occurring ahead of the release of the FOMC minutes, a key macroeconomic event. What this means: This is neutral to slightly bullish for STEEM because the mention by a regulated exchange can increase visibility and retail interest. However, such price moves driven by exchange highlights can be volatile and may retrace if not supported by sustained buying pressure or fundamental developments. (Tokocrypto)

2. Vitalik Buterin Highlights Steem's Legacy (21 January 2026)

Overview: In a keynote address, Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin discussed the evolution of decentralized social media, citing early platforms like Steem that faced scalability and tokenomics challenges. He advocated for a new generation of networks focused on intrinsic utility over financial speculation. What this means: This is a neutral long-term signal for STEEM. Buterin’s commentary validates Steem’s pioneering role but also frames it as part of a learning phase that newer projects are building upon. It underscores the need for the Steem ecosystem to continue evolving to stay relevant in the competitive Web3 social landscape. (BitcoinWorld)

3. Steemit Launches Season 28 Community Challenge (7 December 2025)

Overview: The Steemit platform ran its Season 28 Challenge from 1 to 7 December 2025, featuring user-hosted contests across themes like food, travel, and art. The initiative was designed to stimulate content creation and platform interaction, rewarding participants with STEEM tokens. What this means: This is bullish for STEEM’s ecosystem health. These regular, community-driven challenges directly incentivize on-chain activity and token circulation within the Steem network. Consistent engagement initiatives help sustain the platform's core utility and can provide a foundation for token demand. (Kanalcoin)

Conclusion

Steem's recent narrative blends a notable price mention with its recognition as a foundational decentralized social platform and ongoing grassroots engagement. Can Steem leverage its established community to capture the next wave of sustainable Web3 social adoption?

Deep Dive

1. Community Curator Programs (Ongoing)

Overview: The Steemit team runs recurring community curator programs, such as the December 2025 initiative involving 11 accounts and 13M Steem Power (SP) to support newcomers and applications (Steemit). These programs decentralize content curation and reward distribution, a core function of the Steem blockchain. Applications typically require teams and a minimum SP stake, with selections made monthly.

What this means: This is neutral for STEEM because it sustains existing platform activity and token utility within its niche ecosystem, but does not represent new technical development or expansion that could significantly alter demand or price.

2. Steemit Challenge Seasons (Ongoing)

Overview: Steemit regularly organizes challenge seasons, like Season 28 which ran from 1–7 December 2025, featuring community-hosted contests in themes like food, art, and travel (CoinMarketCap). These seasons aim to increase user engagement by rewarding creators with STEEM tokens.

What this means: This is neutral for STEEM as it encourages short-term platform participation and token circulation, but these are operational efforts that have not historically driven broader market adoption or price trends.

3. Platform Maintenance & Exchange Support (Ongoing)

Overview: Steem maintains its existing blockchain infrastructure and ensures exchange support. For instance, Upbit resumed deposits and withdrawals for STEEM in December 2025 as part of wallet maintenance (CoinMarketCap), and BYDFi listed a STEEMUSDT perpetual contract pair in April 2025.

What this means: This is neutral for STEEM because maintaining liquidity and exchange access is essential for basic functionality, but it does not constitute a forward-looking upgrade or strategic shift.

Conclusion

Steem's trajectory remains focused on sustaining its current social-fi ecosystem through community engagement rather than pursuing new technical milestones. How might the evolution of newer decentralized social platforms influence Steem's long-term niche?

Deep Dive

1. Power-Down Period Reduction (10 June 2020)

Overview: This was the last major protocol update, implemented to improve the user experience for STEEM stakeholders. It significantly reduced the time required to unlock staked tokens.

The update, labeled Steem 0.23.0, was a hardfork that shortened the "power-down" period from 13 weeks to just 4 weeks. This change was made in direct response to community feedback, aiming to reduce the perceived risk of locking assets and encourage more users to stake STEEM and participate in network governance and content curation.

What this means: This is neutral for STEEM as a legacy update. It made the platform more user-friendly years ago by allowing stakers to access their tokens much faster, but it does not reflect recent development activity. The codebase has been dormant since this release.

(Releases · steemit/steem)

2. Curation Reward Bug Fix (3 September 2019)

Overview: This was a critical security patch that prevented a potential chain halt and exploitation of the reward system.

Version 0.22.1 fixed a subtle bug in the curation rewards curve calculation. In rare cases, a vote could be assigned a negative weight, which when processed would incorrectly calculate a payout worth trillions of STEEM. The fix ensured these edge-case votes received a reward of zero, preserving the integrity of the reward pool and preventing chain instability.

What this means: This is neutral for STEEM as a historical security patch. It was crucial for maintaining network stability at the time, but like the other update, it occurred over six years ago and indicates a long period without core development.

(Releases · steemit/steem)

Conclusion

Steem's core blockchain development appears to have concluded years ago, with the last significant protocol update occurring in mid-2020. Current activity is focused on community engagement and platform features rather than base-layer code changes. For a project with dormant core development, how does ongoing community-led engagement sustain its ecosystem and token utility?