RE: How I learned to stop worrying and love the Bid Bots
Very good article, and the thinking is somewhat along the same lines as mine. Read your posts, perhaps some months ago, and good to find you posting again.
The so-called bidbots are a logical consequence of the Steem code. There are 2-player exchanges that are profitable and predictable, such as exchanging a transfer for a vote, hence they exist. But such exchanges are also content-agnostic and hence, in some peoples views, counter-productive in a content-based-economy.
Also amusing to mention GDP - I've been thinking of how such a measure could be defined within a crypto-space. As you say, one problem with Steem is that it is used as a gateway out into fiat so that coins do not flow so much around the economy.
Will read some more and will, no doubt, have some more comments :-)
Indeed, the key to a higher value for STEEM is to have more reasons to NOT exchange it for fiat. The more transactions are being mediated by STEEM, the higher its value
Have you had any thoughts on a metric similar to GDP for the Steem economy?
sales and purchases of coins are slightly hidden in that they appear as any transfer, except to a known exchanger's account; there isn't a "sale" transaction as such. Which also means that STEEM is never really sold outside of the economy.
If I had been an economist, it would definitely be an interesting topic! :-)
But I'm just a "blockchain guy" with an amateurish interest in economics