Thanks for raising this @branhmusic. Maybe you or someone else can clarify. I am experimenting in an attempt to understand the payouts as displayed on posts. I don't think the dollar amounts showing on posts is USD. Here's my logic:
Let's take a look at a random post that has recently paid out (10 days old as I write this):
https://steemit.com/vlog/@mrviquez/daily-crypto-trading-volume-matches-the-daily-volume-on-the-ny-stock-exchange-this-only-the-start-are-you-ready-for-the-flood
The payout right now is showing as $91.49. What is unclear to me is what "$91.49" means. Is that USD? SBD? Something else? I think it is something else (a combination of SBD and SP maybe).
The "total_payout_value" for this post as found on steemd, is the amount the author receives (usually split 50/50 between SBD and SP). The author's cut for this post is "71.886 SBD" as reported on steemd (75% of "$91.49"). Ok, so let's looks at the actual payout. At the time I wrote this comment, the payout was 4 pages into the author's steemd listing. Here is the exact text on this "$91.49" payout (of which the author gets "71.886 SBD"):
The author's 75% of "$91.49" paid out 35.943 SBD and 11.082 SP. In other words "$91.49" x 75% = 35.943 SBD + 11.082 SP.
At the current rate, 35.943 SBD is equivalent to 35.943 x 7.50 = $270 (US dollars, that is). So, if we ignore the value of the SP (11.082 SP), the "$91.49" showing on the post actually paid out $270 USD equivalent to the author.
Unless I have completely misunderstood (a possibility), I am baffled by the payouts being displayed on steemit posts. If they are not USD, then why display the $ sign at all? When SBD was around 1 US dollar, this made more sense, but it's confusing now.
It would be better if estimated SBD and SP were displayed on each post, NOT some value with a $ sign that is not dollars.
Please, tell me where I have gone wrong here.