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This is a short post to highlight some blockchain projects that are live and providing some sort of actual utility for general users. I'm not going to include projects that provide financial exchange utility, such as payment, trading etc. There are plenty of those projects, but they aren't useful for the general user.

Brave & Basic Attention Token

The Brave platform with its Basic Attention Token (BAT) has really delivered on their promises. The web browser (which I'm currently using while typing this blog post) is working great! Switching web browser is such a personal thing, but once you're on the other side you'll quickly learn to appreciate the speed, lack of ads, and the more private experience. A web browser is great, but what about real utility? In March, content creators and publishers have started to get paid for their content online. There's some real value being distributed via micro payments! Personally, I have done automatic micro payments to the owners of drupal.org as well as some Youtubers.

Steemit.com

Another platform that's providing real utility is Steemit. It's a blogging platform, similar to Medium, that let bloggers earn rewards for publishing content. In that sense, it's similar to BAT, because it's all about micro payments to publishers. It's easy to cross-post from your own blog into Steemit, check-out my Steemit blog here: https://steemit.com/@dickolsson As you can see, I've earned some rewards myself and even tried to cash out on some of it. And it works flawlessly!

Ethlance

One of the first dapps that went live on the Ethereum main network was Ethlance. This is a kind of job posting site, that lets you find gigs that pay in Ether. There's a growing number of job postings, and real transactions are being made between employers and service providers. I'm considering to possibly pick up a website gig just to try it out!

Status.im

This last project isn't actually live yet. But they have a very impressive and well working alpha product, and it's going live very soon I'm told! I'm talking about Status.im. It's a private messaging app, with a built-in crypto wallet and Ethereum browser. It's the first fully featured user interface to the Ethereum blockchain. Because we can no longer trust Telegram, I will try to persuade my friends and family to switch over to Status once the app is live and available in the iOS and Android app stores :)

Above you'll see Isabell and I testing the Status app.

Conclusion

The two first projects, BAT and Steemit, are both built around the idea of content publishing and micro payments. There's something to be said about the general idea around micro payments when both of these projects are live and thriving. Related to micro payments, I'm also keeping an eye on Civil which attempts to do something similar, but dedicated towards journalism instead. However, personally I'm most excited about getting my hands on the Status messaging app when it's live. There's a real utility in a messaging app that no central authority can control, do surveillance with, or in other ways censor.

Posted from my blog with SteemPress : https://dickolsson.com/blockchain-projects-and-dapps-that-already-provide-utility/