I few days ago I was preparing a post about the opportunities to earn more STEEM as an active steemian, given the current prices of SBD and STEEM.
But this opportunity is a trap. Because it is highly inflationary. Much more STEEM is being printed for every SBD calculated as liquid reward at payout time.
SBD is supposed to be a US dollar pegged token. Yet it failed to keep the peg in both ways, both up and down.
At some point SBD was worth 7-8$. Now it is worth $0.608.
Above $1 there is no mechanism in the blockchain to keep the peg. Only market swings.
Below $1 we have a mechanism in place that was thought to be a stronger one to keep SBD close to $1.
BUT... there is a big issue, one that probably wasn't considered seriously when the mechanism was thought out: the price of STEEM, much lower than SBD.
Now we have two forces probably working on SBD, in opposite directions. One embedded in the blockchain that demands it to raise back to the $1 peg.
The other one thinking at the long term benefit of Steem, which attempts to keep SBD at a lower price (helped by the current market trend), if they cannot make STEEM price grow yet.
At least that's what I'm thinking, and that's what I would do if I'd have the means, without more radical measures.
Should SBD be eliminated as a token? I honestly have no answer to this.
The idea behind SBD is good, to offer merchants a stable coin. And it is embedded in many systems on Steem, including in the new SPS, which probably means people with a lot of power here still believe in it or are not ready to give up on it. The reality is what it is, and I doubt it can be any improvement in this area without radical changes.
For the first time, I'll burn 25% of the payout of this post.
Small burns are not the solution, in my opinion, but raised flags that attention is required and something needs to be done.
