RE: Unpegged SBD: A Pointless Speculative Asset
This is an incredible well thought through set of arguments, so props to you for that. I don't necessarily think any of your arguments are particularly right or wrong. As you said, a lot of this future thinking is just speculation until it occurs. A couple points:
I agree that an unstable currency like SBD makes the system way more complicated, and thus not user-friendly. It's a huge pain to explain to my friends just how much my post rewards are worth, and afterwards, I can see that they all kinda think this is funny money.
I disagree with downplaying the importance of the financial benefits of participating in the Steem Blockchain by contributing content. While certainly, the vast majority of users will never make a living off of Steem Rewards, there will need to be a subset of creators who have said opportunity. Recruiting and developing that level of creator within this ecosystem drives user growth, and will generate more value overall. To that end, the current valuation of SBD makes for a much more intriguing and potentially viable full-time job prospect. Yes, instability in the system might worry some, but pegging it to $1 USD, lowers the ceiling on potential payouts for individual posts.
While one could argue that a text based post, or an image shouldn't be worth thousands of dollars anyway, that is not the case with regard to the creation of video content. The liquidity of SBD is necessary for creators to maintain their finances, vs SP which has a 13 week payout, and is only rewarded in relation of the value of the post, not linearly on a 1:1 payout. To that end, the opportunity to earn significant liquid currency for a creator who only posts 1/week is critical. Otherwise we are creating a system that incentivizes well-meaning creators to post more often, even if creatively that isn't what they want to do, in order to make a living.
All speculation, sure, but by pegging the SBD to $1 USD, it does put a lower ceiling on earnings for individual posts, which would certainly create new and different problems (maybe better problems to deal with, but who knows)
It only creates a lower ceiling in terms of trading arbitrage. Since SBD is pegged underneath to STEEM, the STEEM price would need to go down in order for the amount of SBD to go down. With a pegged SBD, you will still be paid the same amount, but the amount would be worth less in terms of USD given the current prices of SBD.
But having a reliable peg could attract new users as well and increase the price of Steem given that a stable SBD has more use cases and one can earn SBD through Steem-based platforms.
But you make a fair point on the lower potential ceiling. I do not think we get rid of SBD, but should allow transfers from STEEM to SBD that would allow free movement between the two and allow the free market to peg the price.