Here is what i think and what i know .
Since i am fairly new on this platform, i tried to read as much possible about Steemit and its inner workings; and with this few currencies, i was a bit confused. (a little bit more :D )
Taking me almost an entire week of reading, my brain was able to comprehend quite a lot about #Steemit and how does it function.
Nevertheless, the one question i could not get a straight answer to was if you are able or not to convert (not trade) #Steem to #SBD, and why ? And by converting i mean to send your STEEM to the Steem Network, and the network to print some new SBD for the pretty much the same value as the STEEM you sent.
Here is my 2pence.
Hence so far there is only one option of converting, which is SBD to STEEM, i'm imagining it being as a one-way highway.
Rationally thinking, if i admit that as the only possible way, then it has to be a sole way of generating SBDs. And that is through rewards, such as curation and author reward (so far so good, right? ).
And that is happening through upvoting a content, and through this upvoting, SBD is ''extracted'' from the Steem factory. And through a probably quite complicated formula, the algorithm for SBD is created and generated, which will reach to your wallet in 7 days. Think of this extraction as a tooth extraction; for example: the dentist pulls out your tooth (the extraction process is the upvoting process) and now the healing of local tissue is caused/triggered and started (how you want to name it) by that very same extraction. So the SBD ''manufacturing'' is now triggered. And in 7 days the area is healed (the SBDs are in your wallet) .
Now, the SBD (steemit dollars) has to remain quite loyal to the value of the USD and thus to be worth at least 1 USD (hence the name steemit DOLLARS) . As there are few methods applied to do that, my question here is, whether you can or not to convert it, and why ?
So the answer is 'no'. But ''why'' ? The way i see it, is that conversion in one way only is necessary, if not mandatory for SBD to remain pegged to the dollar, which provide the necessary ''control'' to hold the value of SBD in check, close to the value of the USD. But, the other way around doesn't compromise this ''status-quo'' .
Therefore, you can't do this conversion, but you can go to the market or the exchange and get some.
Hope this thought will be helpful for those who just started, and to help them clear some of the initial fog about how Steemit works; or at least to make it more understandable.
I'm quite curious about your thoughts about this matter, and i'm happy to be proved otherwise if is the case. Please let me know what you think in the comments below, and upvoting and re-steeming will help this post be more visible for those who need and who just started. Together we can make this community a better place for all. Thank you.