![](https://steemitimages.com/DQmYwoKZ1ChmLWk3iTvi36z4XoF1Cv51ABCmcMnESCyQ9AS/image.png) ### After reading @riverhead's post about how he had to give up Steemit.chat due to major stakeholders un-voting him as witness which caused a shift in his monetary area which meant he cannot afford to maintain steemit.chat. ### It made me realize that WHAT DO OUR TOP 20 WITNESSES DO ANYWAY?

I know that they are responsible for keeping the steem blockchain running! But what else do they do? A little search came up with a wonderful article called [A Full Steemit User's Guide to Steem Witnesses](https://steemit.com/steemit-guides/@pfunk/a-full-steemit-user-s-guide-to-steem-witnesses) by @pfunk And this is the basic things that a Witness HAS to do : > Witnesses are generally voted for because they are trusted members of the community, positively contribute to Steem and Steemit in many ways, are qualified and experienced in administration of servers, and are experienced in cryptocurrency networks and software. Witnesses are expected to keep a block-producing Steem node running 24/7/365.25. They are also expected to provide an ongoing price feed of the value of STEEM tokens in U.S. dollars, set the mininum Steem Power deposit to create an account, set the APR% for the Steem Dollar interest rate, and in the future might set additional network variables. Witnesses are also strongly encouraged to run a seed-node to provide the blockchain to syncing clients. https://steemitimages.com/DQmZZw28uG53gZiKU9LGERx7SMVxrkEAxDDNy4UvV1gHZuN/steemit%20separator.png ### But wait, there is more! ### As a witness, you want to contribute to the steem ecosystem and what better ways to do this than to create good things that made this place better. ### Things like a chat, or a spam bot or a handy online calculators to figure out who you number one fan is on here!

So I went on a little investigation because I want to know WHAT our top 20 witnesses are doing! From which the post was birthed : **IN PLAIN ENGLISH.** So that EVERYONE can understand. You will not find any of that technological stuff here. Just real talk. That you can grasp. And if you don't understand it, ASK! Ask ask ask in the comments and you'll get an answer. I PROMISE! ### So without further ado, ### I present to you, ### What our top 20 witnesses do! (OOOHHH the rhyming made me very happy) https://steemitimages.com/DQmZZw28uG53gZiKU9LGERx7SMVxrkEAxDDNy4UvV1gHZuN/steemit%20separator.png

## Witness #20 : @furion

Now I had to do a little digging to find out ALL what this guy has done because he has DONE a lot for our community. His main focus is a decentralized video-uploading platform called View.ly. **Pretty damn cool** He has created [https://steemdata.com/stats](https://steemdata.com/stats) which is basically a programme that allows parties outside of the Steem blockchain interact with it way easier. This includes the SteemData API. **This is pretty damn essential to the success of our blockchain and definitely a reason why you should vote for @furion** He also maintains Steem Python Library and Conductor which are tools to help witnesses! **Good stuff!** He also runs the https://mentions.steemdata.com which is also a neat little tool to find your mentions. And to top it off, he is a co-founder of @steemsports which I think is a pretty essential blog for all you sport-lovers out there!

## Witness #19 : @pfunk

@pfunk's thing on here is to fight abuse! Which personally I think is great and VERY much needed! He was an administrator on Steemit.chat welcoming people to the Steem community and being an overall good guy. Plus rewarding the moderators on there! **Even though Steemit.chat is down at the time of this writing, I know that this is a very valuable job to our Steem ecosystem and I hope @pfunk picks up where he left off when it is up and running again.** This music lover supports @luzcypher's Open Mic contests by donating 320 STEEM each week. **Which is highly necessary to keep the creative music community thriving on here.** Plus he has delegated 5000SP to the @openmic account which upvotes Open Mic entry posts! **Pretty crucial to the open mic community** All in all, @pfunk is on here to look out for the (creative) community and is constantly finding new avenues to contribute to the blockchain in a positive way!

## Witness #18 : @curie

Curie is one of the most well known witnesses especially due to their huge curation guild on here. **You've probably heard about Curie and have wanted to get Curie'd when you just got onto the platform.** They reward exceptional content creators who have had limited success. **They play an extremely important role in the Steemit community and really help out the newbies** @Curie uses their witness rewards to support their curation guild which is very noble. **And extremely beneficial to the Steem community**

## Witness #17 : @thecryptodrive

This guy is proud to be the very first Africa-based Steem Witness! **Yay for the international community on here!** He is CEO of @buildteam which is a blockchain innovator group who build good stuff for our wonderful community! **Which powers @minnowbooster which is a HUGE player in helping minnows on their Steemie journey** He is involved in @steemsports and is advisor and site admin of steemvoter.com **Which is probably the most used auto-vot bot, therefore pretty important for the Steem community!** Plus he started the @steemdrive iniative which focuses on getting the Steem blockchain seen by 'normal' people in the real world on HUGE billboard outdoor media, which is crowdfunded by the Steem community! **Amazing way to bring new peeps onto the platform! BRAVO!**

## Witness #16 : @xeldal

@Xeldal's focus lies in the witness area. He is witness for Bitshares and the Muse blockchain. **Nice** Apparently this guy can do a ton of cool stuff although I haven't been able to find out much. In his 'spare time', he creates arbitrage bots that can aid in the turning of a profit on the exchanges. **Didn't even know this existed so that's pretty cool**

## Witness #15 : @anyx

As a keen user of using @steemcleaners when I want to report abuse on here, it was a pleasant surprise to find out that @anyx is the founder and leader of this wonderful enterprise on the Steem blockchain! **Seriously, a gazillion thank you's for the MEGA important work that you do!** Plus @anyx is also the mastermind behind the incredibly helpful tool @cheetah that scours our platform in search of plagiarised content! **A complete MUST to keep this place as spam-free as possible**

## Witness #14 : @netuoso

@netuoso contributes to the community through Steemcreate. A service which acts as a recovery agent of your account if your account is stolen. **Pretty neat feature and an extra layer of protection is never a bad thing!** He is also a software developer for the Minnow Support Project where he regularly contributes free software to the community. **Sharing is caring remember?**

## Witness #13 : @smooth.witness

This witness likes to keep a low profile by not revealing his identity. He mentions that he has been in the cryptosphere since 2011 and is core team member of Monero and lead developer of AEON. **Both coins that are focused on privacy and being anonymous** His main focus as a witness is to ensure that the network is secure, reliable and scalable. **Crucial stuff really**

## Witness #12 : @aggroed

This witness is responsible for the creation of the amazing Minnow Support Project! **An incredible feature to our wonderful blockchain that really adds value** If you head on ove to the Discord server, there is a plethora of chats to dive deep into and tons of people who want to help you! **You should go check it out!!!** Plus, (And I didn't not know this), @aggroed hosts a weekly radioshow called “Minnow Mayor Town Hall” where there people can communicate with him on all sorts of different topics. **Love how involved he is with the community!**

## Witness #11 : @pharesim

@pharesim calls himself a free knowledge advocate! **Which I totally support too!** He is responsible for one of the most amazing projects on the blockchain, namely Steeminvite.com A mega quick cheap service where you can instantly create Steem accounts for your friends and family! **Such a breathe of fresh air because now people don't have to wait to create an account!** Plus he created @steemdice1 a simple dice rolling game in which you bet money against the blockchain! **It's a nice little way to get some extra cash, or lose a bit! Haha** He is a key developer for Pevo, “a decentralized long-term digital archive for scholarly publishing.“ **Let ALL knowledge be free!!!!**

## Witness #10 : @lukestokes.mhth

This is the witness account of @lukestokes who is a Steemian doing A LOT for the community. He has been posting the Exchange Transfer Report which looks at the price of SBD and Steem and the flow of 'cash' on our blockchain. **Definitely interesting to take a look at!** As a witness, he focuses on economic discussions and evaluating hardfork code change proposals. **This man knows what he is talking about!**

## Witness #9 : @clayop

@clayop is a huge ambassador for the Korean community! **Which I am happy about because we need more KR representatives!** He seems to post a lot of Steem-related posts and how we could improve the blockchain! Unfortunately, his posts are mostly in Korean but it's good because he is keeping the KR community in the loop about advancements in Steem! **Thank you for being a bridge for Korea!**

## Witness #8 : @someguy123

This guy is deeply embedded in the crypto-dev world as he has worked on numerous BIG projects already. He has also a couple of essential tools that witnesses can use or if you want to become a witness! **Definitely check him out if you are up for that!** But most relatable to us, the fishies of the Steemit sea, is his project AnonSteem, where users can create anonymous steem accounts! **Cos everyone has a right to privacy!**

## Witness #7 : @ausbitbank

@ausbitbank is what you could call a master curator! **You will find his upvote cast ALL over the Steem blockchain which is feat in itself! He gives an extra boost to those newbies coming onto Steem!** As a co-founder of Minnow Support Project and Team Australia, this guy is making our blockchain a better, more inclusive and friendly place! **Thanks for all that you do!**

## Witness #6 : @blocktrades

Another well known witness, because it runs one of the easiest ways to get $Steem and $SBD into and off the Steem blockchain. **You've got to try it! It is so easy!** @blocktrades likes to hand out upvotes which put a big smile on people's faces because they are HIGH! You can also buy a delegation or Steem account through them. **Which is going to help get even more newbies to the platform and support them!** The account is not powering down so this shows they are invested in Steem and believe in the blockchain! **Duh! We are the best ;)**

## Witness #5 : @good-karma

@good-karma is the creator of the Esteem app that many of us use as our home-space for Steemit on our phones. **It's a great app!** He has also developed SteemPoll, SteemMonitor and the Steemfest apps! **Cannot wait to use it at Steemfest3!**

## Witness #4 : @timcliff

@timcliff is responsible as a steem dev for many positive changes to the Steem blockchain. **Stuff that makes our lives a lot easier!** He is also involved in keeping the Steemit FAQ, the cover image FAQ and the Steemit welcome page all up-to-date! **Very essential things so newbies understand this place even more!** He writes a 'Reports From The Witnesses' series which showcases all the things happening in the Witness world of Steemit. **It's damn cool to get such important updates from the people who are keeping this whole thing running!** **A very active positive Steemian!**

## Witness #3 : @gtg

With a great name like Gandalf The Grey, this witness can be seen as our protector! **Just like the real Gandalf!** He is focused on keep our accounts as safe as possible through telling users they've leaked their private keys to and educating on network and witness security! **Very important for our whole steem ecosystem!** He likes to hand out delegations to minnows. **So they can have even more of an impact on our beloved blockchain and get a taste of what it's like to have a high SP!**

## Witness #2 : @roelandp

We all know this Steem-celebrity who is the organizer of the BIGGEST Steem get-together @steemfest! **Which you obviously need to go to this year!** He created Steemtools.com which is an overview of different apps that you can use to improve your Steem experience! **It's damn good.Check it out!** He has created quite a few apps on the blockchain ranging from the funny to the essential! **He has cool ideas**

## Witness #1 : @jesta

@jesta is responsible for creating ChainBb, which lets you see Steem more as a forum! **Check it out if you like a forum-style of being social online** He is also the creator of Vessel, a desktop wallet for Steem. Steemdb is probably one of the most helpful tools for the Steem blockchain and guess who is behind it? @jesta of course! **If you are not using this yet to find stuff out about your account, check it out now!** https://steemitimages.com/DQmZZw28uG53gZiKU9LGERx7SMVxrkEAxDDNy4UvV1gHZuN/steemit%20separator.png So there you have it! The projects, enterprises, bots and tools that our top 20 wonderful witnesses are working on! This has definitely opened my eyes to new witnesses that I will cast my vote upon!

### I hope this post helps you make decisions on which witnesses to vote on! USE YOUR WITNESS VOTES! YOU HAVE 30 TO USE! GO HERE TO VOTE NOW : https://steemit.com/~witnesses

**If I have gotten something wrong, or something needs to be added to this list, please let me know, so I change it!!** **I did extensive research to get all the information but obviously this could not be relevant anymore or simply outdated! Or even completely wrong!** *Steem Octopus is by @fabiyamada and will be getting a bit of SBD from this post!* Sources : 1 : [Meet Steem's Top 20 witnesses](https://steemit.com/witness-category/@jerrybanfield/meet-steem-s-top-20-witnesses) by @jerrybanfield 2 : [pfunk New Year Witness Update](https://steemit.com/witness-category/@pfunk/pfunk-new-year-witness-update) by @pfunk 3 : [@Curie = Meet The Witnesses #31](https://steemit.com/witness-category/@lexiconical/curie-meet-the-witnesses-31) by @lexiconical 4 : [Why you should give Curie a Witness Vote](https://steemit.com/witness/@mikepm74/why-you-should-give-curie-a-witness-vote) by @mikepm74 5 : [Introducing: The Incredible, The Mythical, @TheCryptoDrive](https://steemit.com/buildteam/@mooncryption/introducing-the-incredible-the-mythical-thecryptodrive) by @mooncryption 6 : [@Netuoso - Meet The Witnesses #36](https://steemit.com/witness-category/@lexiconical/netuoso-meet-the-witnesses-36) by @lexiconical 7 : [smooth witness](https://steemit.com/witness-category/@smooth.witness/smooth-witness) by @smooth.witness 8 : [@Aggroed - Meet The Witnesses #12, Remastered](https://steemit.com/witness-category/@lexiconical/aggroed-meet-the-witnesses-12-remastered) by @lexiconical 9 : [pharesim.me](pharesim.me) by @pharesim 10 : [Vote Luke Stokes for Witness as lukestokes.mhth!](https://steemit.com/witness-category/@lukestokes/vote-luke-stokes-for-witness-as-lukestokes-mhth) by @lukestokes 11 : [Meet Steem's Top 10 Witnesses!](https://steemit.com/witness/@jerrybanfield/meet-steem-s-top-10-witnesses) by @jerrybanfield BIG love, Ashley ![Steemit Ashley Kalila.png](https://steemitimages.com/DQmPZnAoaFUhhGtbsMRQahVCKX1N8h3QBB2tfjRtwGYKPq9/Steemit%20Ashley%20Kalila.png)

![Sharing Authentically.png](https://steemitimages.com/DQmUVCx4wzVWSyhthS8CzLZeVice4eMAghGRFzwdHiXnPAq/Sharing%20Authentically.png) ![BANNER HUMANS OF STEEMIT.png](https://steemitimages.com/DQmfRKUHdmWY8Tv7ZB5oT4vR49c44qDRFB2CWZhqLEWAchf/BANNER%20HUMANS%20OF%20STEEMIT.png) My LoveProject is @humansofsteemit! Featuring the humans behind the Steemit usernames!