Thanks! It is. Technically you can use bitcoin, Ether, or Bitshares - but BTC is the main one. I would love to be able to go straight between USD and STEEM.
I'm not an expert on BTC, but I believe all BTC transfers do have transaction fees. When you buy STEEM via the interface on Steemit.com, the fees are already factored in.
STEEM transactions have zero fees though, which is really nice :) Once you have STEEM tokens, you can transfer them to other users without paying any fees for the transaction.
Thanks for your note. At this time, is there a way to buy STEEM directly through USD or do I need to buy BTC first?
You cannot yet buy STEEM directly through USD.
You can buy it with other coins besides BTC though. Usually I use USD to buy Litecoin (LTC), then LTC to buy STEEM (because the fees are much lower, and the transactions are much faster).
Thanks for your reply! What is the most efficient way to buy LTC via USD?
I use coinbase.