Steemit EXCLUSIVE: Witness Tim Cliff Talks SBD & STEEM, Succeeding on Steemit, More!
Huge thanks to witness @timcliff for joining me tonight for a half hour conversation about Steemit, Steem, witnessing, rewards, curation, blogging, and the outlook and underlying mechanics of both STEEM and SBD.
Also a major thank you to @meno for helping to line up this interview.
Please leave your thoughts in the comments, as well as suggestions for which other Steemians you'd like me to interview!
Please give a follow to my Steemit partners/recruits @big-lou @hannahlaurel and @samseder
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Lovely! There are huge amount of info for us to know more about steem and sbd! Thanks!
Thanks for the great interview! I really enjoyed talking to you :)
Thanks @Timcliff and @davidpakman! It was very informative, especially the SBD fundamentals part!
You mentioned practically all people buy SBD tokens for speculative reasons but I would like to point out that many Steemians use Booster services that are paid in SBD. I have no idea about the total size of this demand but as I check out the wallets of these booster services I feel it's around 1-10k SBD per day they receive. (depending in size of booster service and only taking the few big ones into account.
Great point! I forgot about those.
great
it was a pleasure having you and hearing your insights! thank you again for doing it.
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thanks for this detailed interview, really helpful and inspiring for newbies like me. I find that there are many people who have put 6 months to 1.5 yrs of effort into steemit and are now reaping the rewards from that. do you think it will take more or less time for those who are joining now?
That’s a great question. I think once communities are released, it will be a lot easier for new members who are adding value to get discovered.
Great! Can't wait for that time to come.. @timcliff please I really wanna have a chat with you, I tried the Steemit chat but the registration isn't just working out for me, I also tried communicating through your blog this is the only way I found, pardon me if I offended by this.. But please I really need a chat with you to learn more, if you ask me I would suggest facebook so we can really digest alot of things am yet to understand. Please do well to reply to me, thanks
If it isn’t anything private just reply to one of my old posts. I’m also on discord if Steemit.chat isn’t working.
OK, thanks
Thanks for your kind response
i love your work
fantastic
and congrats!
Quedo muy satisfecho con esta entrevista, aclaró muchas dudad que tenía. 100% agradecido hermanos. Saludos!
Congratulations on your success with Steemit. I like your persistence.
Thanks!
nice
thank you for your information!
My pleasure. Call me any time
I find most of such crypto interviews cringeworthy and unwatchable, but this one as great. An expert interviewer and a wise interviewee. Well done, hope to see this on your YouTube channel soon, and subsequently more of your YouTube subscribers on Steemit soon!
thanks very much!
Yeah, many people even on Steemit are talking about crypto in ways that demonstrate they don't know anything about it. Just trying to sell something or make a quick buck. It's refreshing to see someone actually talk about something of value.
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Hey bud, I realize you are very new... But vote begging is only going to work against you. Consider adding to the conversation or simply working on your blog, and I say this in a friendly way..
The interview was insightful, to say the least. When @timcliff mentioned how $250 was a medium sized investment allocation for him when he first joined Steemit, I reflected on how far he's come since then and it definitely puts things into perspective.
Tim noted that when he first bought steem it was trading around its previous highs of $4. From a technical analysis viewpoint, what we're seeing now with steem having definitively broken above the $4 level is a blue sky breakout. I recently wrote a post about this and consider it a bullish indicator in setting the tone for 2018.
Admittedly, I have had my frustrations with steemit as a platform, but after listening to the interview I can see that it was Tim's focus on its underlying goals and the potential of the steem blockchain that saw him through the ups and downs in steem's value. His resolve in being a part of advancing its success is an admirable quality for a witness.
My follow up question for Tim: since SBDs may be viewed as trophy tokens within the steem network, perhaps there is in fact no ceiling to cap their price potential?
Regarding the value of SBDs, on page 12 of 32 of the Steem White Paper, it's said that, "We fully expect there to be a narrow trading range between $0.95 and $1.05 for SBD under normal market conditions." Per: https://steem.io/SteemWhitePaper.pdf
For over a month now, it's been clear that market forces have managed to sustain the value of SBDs far above the originally intended peg noted in the white paper. Could this simply demonstrate that it is impossible to set a floor value to anything or create a "stablecoin," and that ultimately buyers and sellers in the free market will set the price? If so, then maybe the best intervention is no intervention. If market forces continue to sustain the price of SBDs in this manner, Steemit Inc may then need to reconsider how SBDs are explained to users and the broader crypto investment community moving forward.
Indeed, that's an important long term question if SBD will effectively remain significantly higher than the $1 range
There is really no ceiling to cap the price potential of STEEM or SBD :)
There are a lot of new SBD tokens being created each day though, as the blockchain generates new author rewards. As the supply increases, that can push down the price. It is all a matter of what there is more of - supply or demand.
There has been a lot of discussion about this in various channels. The consensus is that the mechanisms in place allow us to set a reasonable 'floor' (of pretty close to $1 USD), but there is not a lot that can be done to push it back in the other direction. The risk of the coin being above $1 USD, as well as the continuous supply of new tokens, was expected to be the main driving force to push it back to $1 USD if it went higher.
The education part is an interesting point you raise. Obviously having good education and understanding of what the currencies are is important, but one question I have - who is being harmed by not being educated about the deviation away from the stable coin? I am not saying it is with zero impact, but I think it is safe to say that most Steemians (even if they didn't know SBD was worth more than it was) are actually benefiting from the high prices - whether they are educated about the mechanisms of them or not.
That's great to definitively know that there is no cap on the price potential of SBD. Thanks for that clarification, Tim!
In regards to SBD, is there a cap on how much new SBD is created on a daily/yearly basis by the steem blockchain as new author awards are generated? I ask because the supply on Coinmarketcap is currently listed at just over 5M, which is considerably less than the amount of steem and may be contributing to the sustenance of SBD's recent price ascension: https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/steem-dollars/
In regards to the consensus that the floor value of SBDs should be maintained at $1 USD, I think this further reinforces the stability of it as a trophy token uniquely distinct from steem; essentially, if my understanding is correct, witnesses and other key stakeholders in the blockchain's success have agreed to "buy the dip" if SBD were to ever pullback to below the $1 USD level again and that with steem there is no such agreement. However, it seems that given the recent rise in SBD's valuation, its "plunge protection team" may no longer be needed. At least one can hope!
Therefore, tying into the education reference, I was thinking that a clear distinction between SBDs and steem can be reinforced to all users by rephrasing the way SBDs are described in our wallets. Currently it reads: "Tokens worth about $1.00 of STEEM, currently collecting 0% APR."
In light of SBD's sustained price rise to well above the $1 USD value initially outlined in the Steem White Paper, it's evident that free market forces have demonstrated that this characterization of SBD is constrained and outdated. Perhaps it should read something like this: "Tokens issued by the STEEM blockchain as new author awards are generated. Price per token fluctuates on the free market, just like STEEM. Note that via consensus, $1 USD has been set as the floor price for SBDs." Thoughts?
The Steem blockchain has approximately 9% yearly inflation based on the USD marketcap of STEEM.
Of that, 75% goes to the rewards pool.
Approximately 75-85% of that goes to authors. (The rest goes to curators.)
Approximately 40-50% of those author rewards are paid in SBD. (The rest goes to SP.)
The description in the wallet is technically not wrong. SBD are technically still worth about a dollar worth of STEEM based on the blockchain rules.
You are right that they are also worth more. I don’t know an easy way to explain it all in one sentence that won’t actually confuse users. There are a lot of people that have so little idea about crypto currency, that going into all of that actually makes it worse.
Also, your definition of the floor is technically wrong. There is no guarantee it won’t go to zero.
Thanks for clarifying how SBDs are generated per the yearly inflation rate of the steem blockchain. That is helpful information to keep note of.
I admittedly am not a subject matter expert in crypto currency from a technical standpoint. I can say though that there is a prevailing sense of confusion when I introduce others to the steem blockchain. One of the first questions I am asked is what exactly are SBDs and how can they only be worth about a dollar of STEEM if they are in fact trading higher than STEEM and higher than a single US dollar.
As public interest in the steem blockchain grows, there is a marketing dilemma that remains unaddressed as it pertains to the distinction between steem and SBDs in simple layman's terms. The sustained price ascension of SBDs since the end of 2017 further accentuates that.
Allow me to use an analogy from the health care field: when a doctor prescribes a generic drug to a patient, he/she confidently does so knowing that it has been shown to be bio-equivalent to the brand name product. Nonetheless, the generic and brand name products are still required to be marketed under distinctly different names to ensure that it is clear which is a generic and which is the brand.
With this analogy, I would contend that Steem Blockchain Dollars may not be an appropriate name for the token generated by the steem blockchain. It should perhaps simply be called a Steem Blockchain Token since the dollar nomenclature suggests that it has parity to a single US dollar in value, when in fact this is not so.
As for the price floor, it is implied by the wording of the Steem White Paper when it states: "It is our belief that these rules will give market participants confidence that they are unlikely [to] lose money by holding SBD purchased at a price of $1.00."
Last year, Dan even suggested, "I think all witnesses need to pro-actively manage the price feed such that a Steem Dollar never falls below $1.00 for more than 1 day per week."
What the free market has demonstrated since the end of 2017 is that the peg as originally explained in the white paper is not a proper characterization of how SBDs can actually be expected to fluctuate in value in the real world. Accordingly, now more than ever before, it may be warranted to reevaluate the manner in which they are marketed to users and advocates of/investors in the steem blockchain.
Just my two cents - I appreciate you taking the time to hear me out!
You are absolutely correct, and I agree with what you say. I don't know what the solution is though :)
Also, regarding the 'floor' - the way you presented it in your latest comment here is accurate. What you said before:
$1 USD has been set as the floor price for SBDsis not, because it implies it will not go below $1.00 USD.Congratulations on your success with Steemit
Thanks for bringing us the interview David. I was not aware of @timcliff before but I'm now following him. He seemed like a very level headed and rational guy and it was great to hear his story of how he got into Steemit. Many people in his position would have sold out for a loss but it just goes to show the power of sticking with your convictions. I've been in a similar position where STEEM went down for months after I invested but I never lost faith in the platform.
I might be sleepy, but where is the in-depth interview that Tim mentioned?
https://steemit.com/blog/@terrybrock/steemit-success-series--timcliff-on-who-to-target-with-your-content-1512178826-124805
Hi @timcliff great interview.
I don't think what you are saying about the value of SBD is quite right.
According to Dan it was designed not to go below 1 USD there is nothing at all to prevent it from being higher.
That's what I think I said ;)
There are things we as witnesses can do to push it up. Also, if it falls below $1, it is likely traders will but it up and resell at $1 (pushing the price back up).
We don't however to have much as far as mechanisms to push it back down, so if it goes above $1 USD, then there isn't much to prevent it.
[Edit] One thing to add though, is there is a continued increase in supply as new SBD is generated, so that is the main market force that adds downward pressure.
Do you think that SBD could be stabilized and pegged more closely to the dollar by treating it more similar to how Bitshares treats the BitUSD?
Yes, although if that is the goal, I am more in favor of just allowing reverse conversions (STEEM->SBD).
Would you be up to making a post on this topic when/if you get the time? It would be very interesting to hear this laid out from a witness perspective; how the two ways of management differ, what are the down vs upsides for you in your work, for Steem as an economic system and how it would ultimately affect the "product" that the "consumer" then utilizes for storing wealth in, transfers to others or (still in both cases I would assume to some degree) speculates in.
https://steemit.com/sbd/@timcliff/saving-sbd-proposal-to-restore-the-usd1-usd-usd1-sbd-peg
So much happening around here that apparently I forgot that I had already read it. Will re-read it though. Thx.
Hey thanks
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Thank you for interviewing @timcliff I truly enjoy his insight so much. I like the key takeaway and that is the idea that with persistence and commitment to the @steemit platform it eventually becomes more profitable and in the meantime you are essentially shoved into the people who will ultimately become your best friends. Thanks @davidpakman for your interviewing skills.
🔥🦋🔥🦋🔥🦋🔥🦋🔥
I like that he admits the fomo and glad he hodl that all the way. Well done.