STEEMIT GUIDE; WHAT IS STEEM, STEEM POWER AND STEEM DOLLARS

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Hello guys, @pasaift here.
I remember writing a few weeks back about not just stopping at getting people signed up on the steemit platform, but to guide them and give proper orientation about survival on steemit and how the platform works. Having taken care of that last week, today I decided to explain the three tokens/ forms of currencies used here on steemit. many may already know this, but I believe that some do not. I say this because most people chat me up, asking questions relating to this. This post is dedicated to newly registered steemians.

Here on steemit, authors are rewarded with the following; steem and steem dollars. There is another form called steem power. All of which are interconvertible. I'd be enlightening us about them. Information regarding steem and steem dollars value/ worth can be found on coinmarketcap.com

STEEM

Steem is the main currency of this platform, it can be readily exchanged to any other cryptocurrency eg bitcoin and litecoin. It can also be easily transferred to another steemian ie to another person's wallet. This steem can be converted to steem power by a process called powering up. Powering up is quite simple, all you need to do is click on the small arrow beside your steem, then click on power up.
One thing to note is that we are not paid in steem.

STEEM POWER.
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Steem power refers to powered up steem. Your steem power determines the influence you can impact to the society. The higher your steem power, the higher your vote worths. Steem power is regarded in a way as a true form of investment. It is not readily exchanged, and can not be transferred from one wallet to another, unlike steem. Steem power can be converted back to steem, this is done through a process called powering down.

Note that powering down is not as immediate as power up. I'd advice not powering down, unless you are really sure you want to do so. Powering down takes 13 weeks to complete. The available steem power is divided into 13, and each week a share is given to you in the form of steem. To power down is also easy, just click on the small arrow beside the steem power and select power down. Steem power can be earned through curation rewards and author rewards.

STEEM DOLLARS

Majority of payments to author come in this form. Originally, this sbd was meant to be pegged to the price of dollars, but there has been some changes. Steem backed dollars (sbd) is easily transferred and can also be used as exchange for other cryptocurrency or even converted on some exchange markets to local currency equivalent. Sbd can be converted to either steem and steem power. There are two steps to doing this
1 - use of internal market
2 - use of blocktrades site

To use the market, simply go to your wallet, click on the small arrow beside either your steem or sbd. Then select market.

just input the amount of steem or sbd you want, and you will be show how many steem or sbd would be traded for your need.

Using blocktrades, visit blocktrades.us fill on convert steem dollars to either steem power or steem. The exchange rates would be shown to you.

If comfortable with it, proceed to validate account. After validation, a memo would be shown to you. Copy this (very crutial).
Go back to your wallet click on the little arrow beside your sbd and select transfer. Transfer the sbd to @blocktrades. Don't forget to put the copied memo into the area provided for memo. After transferring, yu'd get the equivalent steem or sbd.