So my conversations have started...
Friends want to know, "How do I cash out now, dammit!" I promised them cash for posts, and now they want to cash out and go on holiday. They read my last post and loved it, but they love the idea of a couple of nights in Ibiza more.
So we ran a simulation earlier. Let us cash out 1 USD worth of Steem.
- 1 USD is worth 0.001493 BTC (@$669.8 USD per BTC source: Preev)
- 0.001493 BTC is worth 4.45 STEEM (@ 0.00033601 BTC per STEEM source: Bittrex)
Therefore they need to be able to buy STEEM in the internal market at:
- 0.2247 (1/4.45 = 0.2247) to get a full 1 USD for their Steem Dollar (SD). Then run across and sell their Steem on Bittrex for BTC.
Here is the problem. The lowest ask on the internal market is 0.299
Buyers of Steem are effectively selling their 1 SD for 0.75 cents, if they sell straight-away.
This is a best case scenario. Should they wish to sell substantially more than 1 SD, say 1000 SD, they will run into liquidity problems and will be selling for even less than 0.75 cents per SD.
We could, of course, put in a Steem Buy order at 0.2247 and wait if it gets filled. But then we need to keep an eye on Bittrex to ensure we can still sell Steem at 0.00033601 BTC or greater (and keep an eye that BTC hasn't fallen substantially).
Yes, at this point, their eyes glazed over.
They wonder what they have got themselves into?!? "Just give me something dammit! 50% I don't care anymore..." They silently cry.
And this is the point.
The more people start caring about how much they get for their SD, the more it will be worth.
That's the paradox.
Believe me, in a couple of weeks' time, after the initial euphoria of 'just getting paid' wears off, they'll be wishing they hadn't lost 50% of their earnings in conversion.
I'm convinced there will be easier methods of processing SD in the future (e.g. a BTC-SD market). Many of us have waited weeks for the payouts to hit our wallets, what's a few more weeks to ensure you extract maximum value?
Patience is our best ally at the moment.