Witness @jackmiller - BIAS, Market, Savings, Bots.

As a Witness one of my responsibilities is to express my views, opinions and elaborate on them so that they are clear to ALL Steemians.

The purpose of this post is to do just that for the following topics:

• BIAS
• Our Internal Market
• Interest Rates (APR)
• "Pay for Vote" Bots

In my intro post comment thread, I was asked about “BIAS”. I tried to avoid that question on my intro post as it was too soon for me to say anything “as the new Witness on the Block”. Felt that I first need to put my feet on the ground and then go into such topics.

My current ranking may be in the top 100 of active servers, however this is far from a position where my input is considered "influential". However, this does give me an opportunity to literally use my options such as BIAS and Interest to demonstrate what I am saying and WHY I am saying it.

As a “realist junkie”, I am aware that I shall never be able to please everyone and that there shall always be those who are “hurt by the truth” when it is said. Such is life.

I'm not sure as to how many relevant posts, forum threads and various sites I have read on the above listed topics. I am not exclusively talking about the conversation threads on Steemit posts with the “highest” number of votes or "dollar values", but also many of those that did not get “noticed” by the masses for whatever reason.

One of the things I definitely noticed was the fact that when many Steemians are talking about topics such as the roles and responsibilities of Witnesses, there seem to be many different interpretations.

So I have taken the following steps to try and show what the columns BIAS and APR (interest) mean. To help show what I am referring to, I shall use https://steemian.info/witnesses as a source.

You shall notice that I set my BIAS to circa 67%.

When giving price feeds as a Witness:

I am not reporting the price of SBD.

I'm reporting the price of STEEM

Simple example:
If I report STEEM is $2, then SBD on the internal market will get you 0.5 STEEM = $1

@timcliff has given the following detailed clarification on the term "internal market" and "conversion":

the price feed is used for two things:

1. It determines the amount of STEEM that users get if they convert SBD into STEEM.....
2. It is used to determine the total marketcap of STEEM, which is used to determine how much to pay out in author rewards
   it is also technically used to represent the "potential payout" prices, but that is kind of a sub-part to #2

However, when we open up our wallets and look for the "Conversion" option, it's not there:

and in case someone thinks it is used the other way around for what ever reason, NOPE:

However it is still used for the payouts and the potential payouts that we see on our screens:

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SO WE NEED TO RESORT TO OUR INTERNAL MARKET:

When you see a BIAS listed in the Witness table, what you as a Steemian can do is go to the Steemd address of that Witness and check on their price feed.

(Source: https://steemian.info/witnesses )

(Source: https://steemd.com )

See how the circa 33% difference in my example affects my price feed.

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WHY AM I GETTING INTO THIS TOPIC?

I believe that we as Witnesses have the tools already in place to help influence the ecosystem in many more ways than what has been done to date.

One of these tools is our PRICE FEED which ultimately affects our payouts and likewise our conversions from SBD to Steem. Even if we do not have the conversion up and running (as seen in the above screenshots) we still have our internal market (trading option).

Keeping our SBD and Steem on our blockchain, making it a viable alternative to all the trading platforms out there.

Which shall make it a lot more viable to ensure a healthy ecosystem as per The Steem Whitepaper.
i.e. where SBD should be pegged to $1 USD.

Lets not forget that soon there shall be Smart Media Tokens (SMTs) added to our internal market, which is all the more reason to start using our market in an orderly and proficient manner, that not only promotes it, but also makes it competitive.

Which brings me to the next column on the table as you see it interest rates "APR".

Having researched many an exchange and Crypto savings service out on the market where interest rates are offered for keeping Crypto in a “savings account”, it seems that we have yet another tool here for ensuring that our SBD stays on our Blockchain and that Steem be ultimately the “hard worker” of our ecosystem.

You have all noticed that there is a “savings” option in our wallets.

This is another very important tool that we have at our disposal.

At this stage I cannot suggest “High” interest. As anything above 1.5% could disrupt the overall ecosystem.

WHY SAVINGS?

It shall definitely boost the amount of SBD available in the system and at any rate of interest that is well below 2% can only bring about a more stable ecosystem.

For more information on “Savings” please ref to page 12 of The Steem Whitepaper.

This option seriously needs to be implemented to stimulate the total sum of SBD available. Especially when we look at the affects that the "pay for vote bots" in their current form are having on the ecosystem.

Why did I state that interest rates under 2% can be considered as "acceptable", Where did I get this number from?

With the current state of economical affairs in which we see Steem replacing SBD in payments. Something that many have noticed and many more haven't yet noticed, there is a simple explanation for this:

When the debt level on the blockchain is under 2%, the rewards are paid to all of us in Steem Power (SP) and SBD.

If the level of debt rises to over 2% and all the way up to 5%, the rewards are paid out in Steem, SP and SBD.

When it goes over 5% and all the way to 10%, then the rewards are paid out exclusively in Steem and SP.

Only once the debt level goes above 10% the rewards algorithm ignores the $1 peg for SBD in Steem payments and this then could mean a tumble in price of SBD and the stability of the ecosystem as defined in the Whitepaper. More so SBD is in trouble than Steem, but in reality, both shall be pay the price and the ultimate price is paid by us.

This is the short version of what happens when it happens, without all the pretty gift wrapping!

You are more than welcome to read the long version on pages 10, 11 and 12 of The Steem Whitepaper.

As you can see, we are already at a stage where rewards are being paid out using Steem, SP and SBD.

A lot of talk has been about one of the main contributors to this, that is the “PAY FOR Vote Bots”.

Personally, I am not a big fan of these in their current form.

However if the payments for these services were to be limited to Steem and not SBD, this could very well change my general opinion. Not because I agree with the potential abuse that is in many ways inevitable, but because they then would be a vital aspect in the use of Steem on our blockchain and not pose a brutal negative (economical) threat to the ecosystem.

In order to use these tools set up by Steemians and Profit seeking individuals, in a way that helps promote and boost the use of Steem this could very well be one of the options that could be looked into, without reducing the potential for private entrepreneurs to make a profit with services they have to offer.

Our fellow Steemian @bmj wrote an entire detailed post on this topic and with his permission I am putting a link to it here:

Why is SBD the primary currency on the STEEM Blockchain. What if all bid bots started accepting bids in STEEM only?

(So rather than me go on about it, here is one example of what I mentioned earlier, where there are many posts already covering certain topics and as such need to be read.)

Note: As for the pay for vote bots, I will state the following as for the current situation;
Use them in an orderly and rational manner. Do not abuse them. We all have responsibilities as Steemians, one of them is to make this endeavor the best it can be. The success of this endeavor depends on ALL of us.

What it comes down to, is that we here do have tools at our disposal to influence the amounts and values of SBD and Steem on our blockchain. We need to start using them in efficient and rational ways.

Please feel free to have a look through the list of active witnesses and see just how little of these two tools are actually being utilized to help our ecosystem along.

https://steemian.info/witnesses

You may ask yourselves, WHY did I do a 33% BIAS , when I know that this is totally unrealistic?

As a new Witness my argumented suggestions are not looked upon in the same way as those presented by Witnesses who have more votes. However I am making a point here by doing this.
So I can use my options to demonstrate my points, without risking an attack on my reputation. I would not dare put such a figure as my "official" stand in any other circumstances. Consider this exception here to be "for demonstration purposes only".

I shall leave this as is, for a period of some 15 calendar days, so as to ensure that when readers of this post go to the listed sites, that the figures as mentioned above are there.

My post here isn’t to “pick” on anyone, it is to bring to the attention of Steemians that we the Witnesses do have tools in place with which we can assist the ecosystem as per the Whitepaper.

We should be using them, that is what these tools are for.

I appreciate your time and hope that this short intro into these topics shall get many more Steemians researching. I shall definitely go into more details on each topic in future.

No matter who agrees or disagrees with my current opinions, it is important that we accept each others individual views and justifications for them. Understanding each other is much more important than going into any forms of "squabbles" or dialog in which we try to "enforce" our individual views as being "exclusive".

Personally, I believe that each and every one of us needs to respect each others individuality and as such encourage transparent, open and public "politics".

With this approach, rather than the approach of "Who holds the majority, dictates life" I sincerely believe that positive changes and proactive initiatives shall become the central focal point of our "democracy" and not "popularity" or "greed".

My next witness report is due in a few days.

If you haven't already read my Witness posts, here are the links:

Witness @jackmiller - Sharing Thoughts.

Witness Report @jackmiller - Truth, Democracy and The Steemian Way.

New Witness Announcement! Greetings from @jackmiller

If you would like to support me as a Witness:

Just click on the above image and it shall take you directly there.

or you can use Steemconnect to vote by clicking on this link:
https://steemconnect.com

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Thank you for reading,
Yours sincerely @jackmiller