Are steem dollar conversions to steem still possible

Hi All,

I noticed that the price of a steem dollar is currently less than one dollar. It seems that this should incentivize the purchase of steem dollars and the conversion of those dollars to steem.

I also noticed steem dollar conversions are not possible on steemit? Is the steem dollar still backed by steem? If not is it backed by anything?

I found the communication on these basic economic changes to the steemit platform lacking.

Please help point me in the right direction!

Thanks!