RE: Should SBD Be a Pegged Asset? If So, When Should We Peg It?
If the SBD had taken tether's place then it would also take its place when authorities choose to take action against Tether for the creation of money and various other schemes they've been up to. You do not want to be in that position. None of us should want to be in that position.
And as far as pegs go, you must not be a very good student of economic history to not know that pegs go terribly, terribly wrong all the time, and are very exploitable and ripe targets for manipulation. If you know there is an infinite buyer or seller on the other side, and you outweigh them or even just whittle away at them over time, you can destroy them. It leaves us at great risk to attempt any sort of peg, and the consequences would be far worse than letting the speculators get burned.
For instance do you think China's peg worked at all? What good has that brought the world. Deflated wages for Chinese workers, their country's soil, water and air is in ruins, and they've burned up all their capital reserves. Add to that the amount of new debt creation they had to endure just to stay afloat and it's just a total mess right now, even if they can claim to have the largest economy.
Pegs always fail. Do not think otherwise.
You make some valid points. But the current SBD already has a peg mechanism when it falls below 1$ (Steem needs to be printed to keep it afloat). So the current SBD has all the disadvantages of a pegged asset without any of the benefits. If we are to keep SBD lets peg it properly, if not lets get rid of it altogether.
Regarding the risk of authorities getting involved ....Steem is a decentralized blockchain what can they do about it? The Steemit website may face a shut down, but decentralized apps like Vessel would still operate and Steem based websites will still operate outside US jurisdiction. Frankly I wouldn't be surprised to see Steemit relocate HQ to some cryptohaven like Zug, Malta or Isle of Mann. The regulatory framework in the US has become way too oppressive for innovation
Do you think the bitUSD peg is being manipulated or has failed or will fail terribly?
I am very, very uncertain about bitUSD's future, I mean I asked Stan right here on steemit about what Arise Bank's association with it is and he just vaguely said "on and off-ramps". That combined with what I've read about Arise Bank does not give me great confidence. And sadly for new users like me it's one of the few trading pairs we have access to off of the steemit website, so it's very troubling to me.