RE: Should we establish a long-term cap for Steem supply?
Steem is highly inflationary, SP isn't. Deliberately so. Investors have got to be willing to wait a few years to allow an entity like this to develop and grow before pulling the plug/ dumping. Investors unwilling to do this are not investors they are speculators.
SP rewards investors that are active participants in the growth of the platform. It also makes authors, commentators and curators stakeholders in the enterprise.
I agree with you that SBD has the potential to becomes a ubiquitous currency, to me this is yet another string to the bow, not the only one.
Onboarding of institutional investors (ad agencies/ media companies) is possible as is moving to some (optional) ad based model.
The monetisation opportunities are vast, however the priority should be user adoption and gaining critical mass. From this, all things are possible.
In fact, SP is a significantly inflationary as well. The inflation rate for SP is something around 10% - which is similar to Bitcoin's average inflation.
What might matter is that Bitcoin's inflation gradually decreases, whereas SP's inflation is meant to stay at 10%. That's why I suggest we consider changing this a bit in order to make SP more similar to Bitcoin.
The 10% SP inflation can be offset by participating in the growth of the platform and earning SP (and SBD) Rewards. I take your point about perception though, however I think this is best combated through explaining how Steem/ Steem Power works, rather than aping Bitcoin.
I also prefer education to marketing tricks. But if helping perception costs us almost nothing - maybe it's worth considering.
This requires indefinite growth. however. Paying off investors with only the funds of future investors is the definition of a ponzi scheme. There has to be additional value in the system itself.
See initial comment for additional value in the system. Not to mention others I haven't mentioned (value of being able to consume quality content, value of social networking etc). Steem is less of a ponzi than other cryptos that are simply bought on the speculation that they might have future utility or to be pumped and dumped for a profit.
For a ponzi there needs to a "non-existent enterprise" and "quick" returns for the first investors. None of these apply to Steem/ Steemit.