Could someone explain to me what's the relation between STEEM, STEEM POWER and STEEM DOLLARS seen on the wallet?

fex (50) in steem • 9 years ago

Use terms like you'd to explain it to your grandmom! :)

When I click Wallet I can see these. Then when I click eg. STEEM POWER, I can see a selection for "POWER DOWN" - I've no idea what this is either.

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9 years ago by fex (50)

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rainman (60) · 9 years ago (edited)

I think it's fairly simple really, but the concept of Powering Up/Down makes things more complex. Let's go over the different terms, starting with the actual currencies:

Steem the blockchain has three "currencies": Steem, Steem Power and Steem Dollars.

Steem

Freely transferrable currency. It can be instantly converted to Steem Power in a process called "Power Up".

Steem Power

Steem Power determines your voting power when voting for posts/comments. It is not transferrable, but can be converted back to Steem in a process called Powering Down. Powering down gives you Steem in equal weekly payments over 2 years.

Steem Dollars

1 Steem Dollar will be worth approximately 1 US Dollar. You can buy/sell Steem Dollars for Steem on exchanges (Steemit will eventually include an exchange for this). If all goes well, direct uses for Steem Dollars should emerge that let you buy services/products for Steem Dollars.

Power Up / Power Down

Convert Steem to Steem Power or Steem Power to Steem. 1 Steem Power will be worth more Steem in the future than today as it is protected from inflation. Inversely, in the future it will take more Steem to Power Up to 1 Steem Power than today, due to the same inflation protection effect.

If you have 124 Steem Power and choose to Power Down, you will receive every 7 days 1 Steem Power times the going ratio of Steem Power to Steem. As of right now, May 25th 2016, that ratio is around 118. If we assume that the ratio goes up by 1 per week, a Power Down would look like this:

Week 1: Receive 118 Steem
Week 2: Receive 119 Steem
Week 3: Receive 120 Steem
....
Week 104: Receive 221 Steem

At that point you would have 0 Steem Power left, all of it would have been converted to Steem.

PS.

This explanation ignores the fact that Steem Power should be in units of millions to keep things simple, and since Steemit does not show that either.

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mchwierut (25) · 8 years ago

Great post explanation!
I'm confused about the ratio of Steem to Steem Power. If I try to buy Steem or Steem Power from blocktrade, it appears 1 BTC will get me the same amount of Steem or Steem Power. (the get estimate result). If there is a conversion rate in powering up, this shouldn't be the case. Shouldn't I be able to buy more Steem for 1 BTC if 1 Steem Power is equal to multiple Steem? (current steem_per_mvest = ~ 223; mvest = SP).

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dwcp (57) · 7 years ago

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Reveal Comment

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tuck-fheman (74) · 9 years ago (edited)

STEEM
- The underlying token of the Steem blockchain.
Power Up (STEEM POWER)
- Vested STEEM over 2 years. Gives user voting power. The more you own, the more weight your vote has, the more money your upvotes give. Click the Power Up link to vest your STEEM. Power Up gains interest (you will accumulate more over time while in Power Up mode).
Power Down
- Vested Steem (aka Power Up) that will be "Powered Down" over 104 weeks into STEEM. Each 7 days you will receive a portion of your Power Up (vested STEEM) as STEEM which can be sold for Bitcoin if you choose. The conversion (Power Down) will be done based on the current STEEM:POWER UP ratio.
STEEM Backed Dollars (SBD)
- A "currency" which will usually be 1:1 with USD and have a 10% APR. They are fungible, decentralized, and as valuable as the network of users that support them. STEEM can be converted to SBD's. You can also earn SBD's by making post and 50% of your post earnings will be paid in SBD's while the other 50% is paid in Power Up (vested STEEM).

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fex (50) · 9 years ago

Thanks for your reply. Yet I've a very hard time imagining that my grand parents would understand anything you just said...since even I don't. :o

Currently when I open wallet, I've 0 STEEM, 10.XX STEEM POWER and 0 STEEM DOLLARS. The only option I can click seems to be POWER DOWN on STEEM. Yet that doesn't give me any kind of information that it did something. At the same time STEEM, STEEM POWER and STEEM DOLLARS all show an arrow pointing down. Even when I read through your reply above, I don't understand what's going on. :(
I don't have specific POWER UP nor POWER DOWN options. I cannot see status of POWER UP or POWER DOWN either. Yet those terms appear when I click STEEM / STEEM POWER.

Any chance someone could form sort of an infographic out of this? Or even a video?

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3 votes

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tuck-fheman (74) · 9 years ago

If you owned some STEEM (which you can buy on Bittrex or Blocktrades), you could Power Up (vest), gain voting power and earn more over time.

Your current 10.xx Steem Power (Powered Up STEEM) will increase over time or you can click Power Down and convert it to STEEM over a 104 week period.

When you click Power Down you will see a message below stating the days until your next payout. You can stop the Power Down at any time. I'm not positive, but assuming you received those 10 STEEM for free by signing up, you may not be able to power those down initially. Perhaps someone with more knowledge on that can clarify. Regardless, you don't really want to Power Down.

Post good content, continue asking good questions and you will earn STEEM Backed Dollars which you can convert to fiat if you choose. You will also earn Steem Power which you can then Power Down and convert to fiat over 104 weeks.

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5 votes

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fex (50) · 9 years ago

Thanks. Yes, the 10 STEEM were there on the sign up.

I don't actually see any message. Nothing happens when I click the POWER DOWN. Absolutely nothing. :o

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1 vote

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tuck-fheman (74) · 9 years ago

The message would appear in the "History" under everything on the Wallet page. But as stated above you may not be able to Power Down those gifted STEEM, I'm not sure.

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1 vote

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cryptogee (75) · 9 years ago

Hi tuck, so if I don't see the message stating how many days till payout, that means I haven't powered down by accident?

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tuck-fheman (74) · 9 years ago

I would think it either means you haven't or can't at this time (due to some limitation on new signups gifted STEEM that may or may not exist).

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tuck-fheman (74) · 9 years ago

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cryptogee (75) · 9 years ago

Excellent, thanks :)

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2 votes

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proggr (60) · 9 years ago

This thread discusses the change/how it works a bit.

If I understand correctly, STEEM is the cryptocurrency, while STEEM POWER is STEEM that's been set aside for the purposes of the community. It gives you the ability to vote, and appreciates based on an interest rate. Powering up STEEM moves it to be used for the community, and powering down STEEM POWER moves it out of the community to just cryptocurrency form.

STEEM DOLLARS I'm a little more fuzzy on but when you get a pay out it will be 50% STEEM DOLLARS and 50% STEEM, both of which can be converted back into STEEM POWER if you choose (STEEM BUCKS->STEEM->STEEM POWER). IIRC I think I saw STEEM DOLLARS would somehow be pegged to the USD or something to that effect... that could be horribly wrong though.

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5 votes

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kenny-crane (68) · 8 years ago

I think this post, and more importantly the answers in the replies, should be required reading for anyone trying to understand the various numbers we see associated with our Steemit account! It becomes more important to understand as July 4 approaches, and we have to decide what to do with our distribution.

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1 vote

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condra (67) · 8 years ago (edited)

OK I think I'm finally getting my head around all this, and I'm completely stupid... :)
So please correct me if I'm wrong!

--Steemit is like Reddit (but more decentralised and with its own economy)
People can post unique content, have group discussions, share curated content, and more

--STEEM is basically money (the currency used on the site for voting/tipping. It can be traded for Bitcoin/Fiat)

--STEEM POWER is a bit like "premium membership" but also a sort of social status which proves your good intentions and contributions.
There are various benefits of having more STEEM POWER. It can be earned, or bought. It is perhaps of more interest to those who are invested in the success of Steemit, particularly content contributors.

--STEEM DOLLARS help users to buy&sell using a sort of surrogate US Dollar

Am I getting warmer?

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