Is the 3 Steem price arbitrary or does it reflect actual cost in network resources? When I’ve claimed tickets, it’s been as little as just over 8 trillion RC to as much as just under 11 trillion. Maybe that’s a reflection of whatever the current price of Steem is?
3 Steem it what it costs to make an account, should all the free accounts dry up. It is in no way connected to network resources, and it doesn't need to be.
My understanding about claiming accounts is that there is liquidity and perhaps even an underground market that we don't even see with the current frontends. If more people are claiming accounts the cost of them goes up, and vice versa.
Don't quote me on that.