My original vision was that SBD could be used to attract capital that would otherwise exit immediately. It also serves to give everyone who holds STEEM some extra leverage and ROI when the price of STEEM goes up.
The downside is it increases volatility of STEEM.
The second aspect is I wanted to create a community that was selling goods and services (think ebay, craigslist, etc). For that kind of thing to be simple merchants needed to accept Steem Dollars at face value.
The idea is that not everyone can invest cash into buying STEEM, but many can invest their "used junk" that is someone else's treasure. This would enable price price of Steem to be supported by not just labor and cash, but by the trading of real goods and services.
SBD is currently under supply and its price has broken the peg to the upside. This is undermining the utility for merchants and users. To fix it we need another way for SBD to enter circulation and that could be done by allowing people to open short positions with SBD backed by 3x STEEM value similar to BTS. Then they can be margin called if Steem falls in value but gain leverage when it grows in value.
So the question is does Steem want to become an economic platform or does it want to promote its own currency first and simplify. There is value to both businesses.
Hi Dan. I absolutely get it and the reason to use SBD for fresh capital, in & out. I also get having one that is used to form the base and one to be used as an earning tool, at the same time to buy goods and services. The problem I'm having is trying to sell the whole thing as a package to someone that simply wants to move away from the likes of Facebook to one that their content is valued and rewarded. The bit that always seems to cause a problem is the SBD/STEEM/PowerUp/PowerDown scenarios. What I have found is that if the SBD was stripped out away from the Blogging and the Blogging was purely STEEM (Liquid+Power), this would make it less confusing. Most people who understand it, understand it, but the ones that don't will most likely never get it and could make or break them joining STEEMIT through the simple fear of not fully appreciating why the different components are there. Apart from this the feedback from the students that I personally have spoken with is simply overwhelming. Rolling this out to the Mass Market would be so much easier if the Investment (Capital In / Capital Out) was kept away from the Blogging tool in an area left to the ones who know the bigger picture. Apart from this it is very exciting to take STEEMIT to Market. Stephen
I agree and think that interface such as STEEMIT should hide the option to receive SBD and all payouts should be denominated in STEEM.
Advanced users can request payout in SBD but it wouldn't be exposed directly nor would it have to be explained to new users.
"Advanced users can request payout in SBD but it wouldn't be exposed directly nor would it have to be explained to new users." This is exactly how I would love to see it. Speaking to people of the last few weeks, they love the Platform and are very excited to see it develop. It's just the complexity of having so many different currency components that is confusing people. I am 100% confident that it will naturally resolve itself as the masses arrive. From personal experience taking it to the market with a hands on approach has taught me so much about the market and what they want. I have great hopes that it will be a massive success. Stephen
I've been involved with crypto for years, and I found the whole 3 currency system of Steemit immediately confusing. It was a large part of why I was hesitant to buy any Steem for months and months.
keep them both. the way i see it stephens issue is with post payout .. selling it to users. sbd is good is simple
Bob, it isn't. It's all about trying to sell STEEMIT to the Mass Market. Trust me, I have spoken to well over +500 Students these last few weeks and this is one issue that could cause a problem if you want mass adoption. I wouldn't raise it unless I thought it was necessary. This is not me asking, its the Market telling me to ask it. It has absolutely nothing to do with payouts. Stephen
I'm all for simplifying. Building essential features for a social media network, like community feature, takes enough time and resources. It doesn't make much sense to divert them to other projects at the same time.
Focus should be on the core business.