One of the most common comments on my daily market snapshos is about how SBD will eventually "come back" and rise again. Almost every market snapshot post has at least one of these comments, in which people publicly express their hopes for a "moon SBD".

To be honest, I'm always baffled by these comments.

Because, most of the time, they denote a complete lack of knowledge about how this platform works.

Sometimes I think that people who join some blockchain experiment, like Steemit, should pass some sort of quiz, in which they'll have to answer some fundamental questions. Like, for instance:

• do you know how much STEEM is printed every day?
• do you know that there's a difference between SBD and STEEM?
• do you know that SBD is supposed to be pegged to the dollar? If yes, do you know why?

I think this basic learning process will save some people from major disappointments. Because, in their search for a "moon SBD" they don't realize they're chasing the wrong rabbit. The rabbit that should be "chased", the fundamental currency of the STEEM blockchain, is, obviously, STEEM. SBD is a glorified smart contract on the STEEM blockchain, which is not backed by real USD, but by "1 USD worth of STEEM". In other words, it's a debt instrument. The more valuable SBD is against USD, the more STEEM debt it creates. And debt based economies, we all saw how they go. When they don't simply crash, they go out mostly in flames.

That's why a pegged SBD will keep the STEEM debt under control. And not only it will support a healthy economical environment, but it will also pave the way for other use cases, like e-commerce, in which a stable currency is crucial.

"But if SBD is supposed to be pegged to 1 USD, why isn't it?" some of these "moon SBD" supporters may ask. Well, because, you know, good ol' greed. As long as SBD is traded on the internal market, witnesses - who are people knowing how the platform work - will publish price feeds that will support the peg. It happened for almost a year. But from the moment it starts to be traded on an "independent" exchange, a currency is subject to market manipulation. And a currency with such a small circulating supply like SBD, a little bit under 14 million tokens, is very, very easy to manipulate. Speculators saw a huge opportunity to play out this token, which had a very low entry barrier and a huge potential. And we all remember it went as high as $10. 10x your money, easy-peasy. Of course, the temptation is huge. But the long term price is really not worth it.

Just to be clear, I think professional traders have their role in any financial ecosystem. They provide liquidity, they help with price discovery and they are useful workers. I don't think they are "bad" in any way. But they have a limited scope of skills. They know how to move markets and that's it. Well, the world is not made only by moving markets around. You also need farmers, pilots, teachers and a lot of other professions and activities. If the entire world will turn into a huge speculation, focused only on the immediate gain from the next transaction, humans will become the most endangered species on this world. They'll become the most toxic agent against themselves. So, while I acknowledge the role traders (speculators) are playing in this ecosystem, I don't think they should be always followed. Some use cases are not for trading or for speculation.

I would always be in favor of a stronger and healthier STEEM, and stay away from a jumpy and volatile SBD. And yes, the recent decoupling of SBD from STEEM - meaning SBD remaining stable (or going down, towards $1) while STEEM slowly appreciates - is a very healthy thing for me. And yes, for a while the rewards will go down, because they're paid partially in SBD. But in the long run, a strong STEEM will definitely be the right bet.

As always, the usual disclaimer: I'm not a trader and this is not trading advice. I'm a witness on the STEEM blockchain and I do my best to keep this blockchain within the initial vision, along with other witnesses.

I'm a serial entrepreneur, blogger and ultrarunner. You can find me mainly on my blog at Dragos Roua where I write about productivity, business, relationships and running. Here on Steemit you may stay updated by following me @dragosroua.

	I know the feeling. That's why I created steem.supply, an easy to use and accurate tool for calculating your Steemit rewards