Thanks @pennsif - yep a good summary. I would very much welcome someone who understands the code chipping in too: I wonder if there are two options: I don't know the relative merits of either:
- Discourage the SBD to STEEM conversion (is an investor or STEEM holder shooting themselves in the foot by doing an SBD to STEEM conversion for some short term profit but only to experience an over expected supply in their main currency). Or is just part of the mechanics we have to live with.
- Could there be a STEEM to SBD Converter deployed without too much difficult to do the reverse (even if this is a temporary measure with some parameters).
It would be great to hear from someone who has used the SBD to STEEM Conversion. I can see others have written on the topic and may well have used this tool: @apshamilton @themarkymark @tcpolymath.
@apshamilton has written on the subject of the unique SBD to STEEM Conversion here
I've only taken the time to skim this as I'm on my way to bed, but looks to me like you're creating a phantom oversupply by not counting all of the SBD that were printed over the last couple of years as part of the Steem supply. There's also an aspect where printing goes up as the price goes down because SBDs become worth more Steem as part of the Virtual Supply which controls inflation - see this post - but most of what you're seeing is people turning weird-steem-in-a-box (SBD) into regular Steem, but then only comparing it to historic values of regular Steem. It was really Steem all along, just in a rather strange container. So that doesn't increase the supply.
SBD being worth more Steem now than went into them when they were printed increases the supply, but it does that whether we convert it or not.
Thanks for taking the time to read and write this. All the best for the New Year. I will think this through and read the post you have referred to gain more knowledge.
For A Dollar A Day now I give all donations to the projects in SBD - ideally to convey some sort of stability in the amounts given.
Because of the lack of SBD now, most donations coming in are in STEEM. I convert them as they come in to SBD on the Market. I am never sure if that is the best option or not.
It makes a lot of sense and rings true with the sentiment in the white paper:
The person you probably really want to explain this is @smooth, by the way.
Your spot on about that price disparity. SBD being over 2x higher than STEEM is causing the blockchain to print even more STEEM in the rewards pool each day. I'm digging deeper and found another good article from @penguinpablo which helps explain the amount of STEEM added to the reward pool each day: here.