Hello friends, it is another week for steemit crypto academy. This will be the week 7 season 4 of this program. I will be writing on the homework task of @sapwood who took us on the beautiful topic Steem Blockchain: STU, Reputation, Author/Curator Ratio, etc

I said that it is beautiful topic because, it clearly explained the recent move by the steemit board on club5050 and I quite agree with them on this proposition.

Now let us answer the homework task questions.

What is STU? What is the break-up of STU? Use a real example to indicate the STU and calculate the different rewards that Author and Curators generated from your last Post Payout? (Screenshot required)

What is STU

STU is not a term much known in the steemit ecosystem, neither is it a token, rather, it is an acronym that came out of necessity.

It means Steem Token Unit. It is a name used by developers to explain the payouts of posts in steemit.

We all know that the even though the payouts are shown in dollars symbol, what is paid out is neither in dollars nor only SBD. So when a posts payout, it pays out in three crypto currencies steem, SBD and Steempower(SP).

So instead of saying, that it pays out in steem or dollar, we say that a posts pays out with STU(Steem Token Unit). This is a better representation of the payout since it incorporates all the three payment methods.

We can say that STU is the hidden value storage in steem blockchain and can also be referred to as Vests.

Break-Up of STU

Like I said earlier, STU consist of three forms or ways of reward payout in steemit ecosystem.

They are

1. Steem

2. SBD

3. SteemPower(SP)

For every post in steemit, there are reward options a person can choose.

The author can decide to choose

● 50% SBD/50% SP

This is an option for the reward to be paid 50% in SBD and 50% in steem(steempower), however this is subject to the debt ratio.

● 100% Power Up

In this option, the reward is being paid all in Steem(steempower)

● Decline Payout

This last option gives the user the option of declining the rewards coming from the post. In which case it is redistributed.

Furthermore, when a post gets a vote(STU) like say $40, the STU is shared equally between the author and the curator.

The curator receives 50% of the STU which is usually paid in SteemPower(SP). This is shared among the curators of a particular post.

The author also receives 50% of the STU which is paid based on the reward option selected by the author.

If the author selected 50% SBD and 50%Steem, it means he will receive his payment based on this proportion.(SBD+SP)

If he chose the reward option of 100% power up, it means that all his payment will be in Steem(SP)

The last option is outright decline of reward payment, which means that he will not receive any payment.(very rare to occur, never seen any)

So if the author chooses 50%SBD+50%SP, that implies that his 50% STU will be shared accordingly. That is 50% of the author reward which is 25% of the STU will be paid in SBD while the remaining 50% of the author reward which is 25% of the STU will be paid based on the value of steem to dollars, as steem power.

If the author chooses 100% powerup, the pay out will be paid all in steem as steem power, based on the value of steem in dollars. For example, if the post is $10, and steem is $1, he will receive a total of 10 steem, in steem power as his payout. Because 10 steem is equal to $10.

Use a real example to indicate the STU and calculate the different rewards that Author and Curators generated from your last Post Payout?

My last post pay out as at the time of writing was this link

The screenshot is shown below.

Past Payouts: $53.56

Author's: $26.78

Curators: $26.77

We are going to find out, the quantity of steem and SBD this STU is going to generate both for the author and the curator.

From the screenshot above, we can see that the SBD print rate is still 100%, so this means that the reward for the author will still be shared as 50% SBD + 50% SP

Author's Payout

From the authors reward of $26.78

50% SBD = $13.39, since SBD is pegged at $1.

50%SP = $13.39,

As at the time of payout, steem price was at $0.602, so it paid out 22.254SP

Curator payout

50% curator payout = $ 26.77

So using the same feed price as at the time of payout,

$26. 77 payout = 26.77/0.602

Curator's payout will be = 44.47SP

This will be shared among the curators.

So the actual payout in dollars is shown in the table below.

We can see from the above chart, the ratio of authors payout to curators payout is 8:2, So authors earn 80% while curators earn 20%. This is against the principle of steem blockchain earning, which is affecting the price of steem coin. Thus the idea of #club5050 is a welcomed development.

Indicate the Raw reputation score of your Steem Account and calculate your Reputation? Verify it with the Reputation score displayed in Steemworld.org?

Reputation is said to be reliability of a user in the steem blockchain with respect to his activities using the proof of brain. It is most appreciated when it is acquired organically and not by using upvote bots. It shows the value the user have added to the system as a result of his activities.

This reputation grows as a result of the steem power and voting weight behind an upvote or downvote as the case may be.

My Raw reputation score is 204,207,395,757,791

The screenshot is as shown below.

To now calculate my Reputation with my Raw reputation score, I will use the formula

Reputation = (Log10(Raw Reputation Score)-9) * 9)+25

Reputation = ((Log10(204,207,395,757,791)-9)9)+25*

Reputation = ((14.3100 - 9)9) + 25*

Reputation = (5.319) +25*

Reputation = 47.79 + 25

Reputation = 72.79

Now I will show you my reputation from steemworld.org account.

MY REPUTATION SCORE IS 72.791

What is percentage(of the Post Payout) that was generated as liquid rewards(SBD) from your last Post in terms of USD equivalent? Kindly explain how the rise of SBD has shifted the supply dynamics? Using your last post payout, kindly calculate the ratio of Author:Curator Reward in terms of USD equivalent?

Percentage(of the Post Payout) that was generated as liquid rewards(SBD) from your last Post in terms of USD equivalent?

The table below shows the rewards and their equivalent in USD($).

**We can see that the liquid rewards (SBD) with STU value of $13.39 have an actual USD($) equivalent value of $92.79..

The percentage with respect to the payout is = (92.79/132.96)100*

Percentage of SBD in USD equivalent = 69.79%

Kindly explain how the rise of SBD has shifted the supply dynamics?

The steem blockchain was designed in such a way that proof of brain constitutes 65% of the reward pool of which the authors receive 50% while the curators received the remaining 50%. So for authors who set their reward stance at 50%SBD and 50%SP, it means that only 25% of the post payout enters the supply stream as liquid steem , while the rest are staked rewards. This proposition is done while pegging 1 SBD to 1 USD.

With this, the supply of steem is kept in check,

However, with the rise in price of SBD, The ratio of authors reward to curators reward have increased greatly. From the table above, we can see that it is at the ratio of 8:2 as against 1:1 (50/50).

This leads to the supply of an ever increasing liquid steem in the market, which is not good for its market dynamics.

From Traditional economics, we learnt that increase in supply leads to decrease in price, and increase in demand(shortage of supply) leads to increase in price.

So this shift in supply dynamics, caused by the rise in price of SBD, is not favorable for the steem market.
It is not working in line with the steem blockchain mechanism

** Using your last post payout, kindly calculate the ratio of Author:Curator Reward in terms of USD equivalent?**

From the table above

Author's reward in USD equivalent is = 106.18, % ratio is (106.18/132.96)*100, which is 79.86%

Curator's reward in USD equivalent is = 26.78, % ratio is (26.78/132.96)*100, which is 20.14

So the ratio of authors reward to curators reward in USD equivalent is 80:20

Kindly explain how & why an initiative like #club5050, can shift the demand/supply dynamic in favor of STEEM?

We have earlier mentioned that because of the rise in the price of SBD, there have been a shift in supply dynamics. More supply of steem is released into the market.

So in order to achieve the initial objective of the blockchain, there is need to control the supply of liquid steem in the market. That is where the #club5050 comes in.

The #club5050 initiative is a good one towards that direction. Its objective is to encourage as many users as possible to save more and invest their future in steem.
Since the price of SBD cannot be reversed or controlled, each user powering up 50% or more of his earning is a nice way towards attaining to the desired supply of liquid steem.

This will also enable people powering up to earn more steem as well, aiding the steemit ecosystem to grow exponentially.

So the #club5050 initiative will definitely act as a check to the unparalleled supply of steem in the crypto space and resolve the problem of excess liquidity if adopted wholly.

Consider a user having a reputation lower than yours, upvotes your Post-- Does it affect the Payout and increase the Rep? If the same user goes for a downvote, will that affect your Payout and Reputation both? Explain Why & How; with Examples?

When a user having a reputation lower than mine upvotes my post, it will generate rewards based on the staked weight or voting power of his SP. It will also increase my reputation.

An example of this is when curator01, who has a reputation of 62.498 upvotes you, you do not only get rewards for the upvote but your reputation also increases. This is due to the high staking weight he possesses.

In the second scenario, if a user with lower reputation downvotes me, it will reduce my reward, netting off whatever rewards that I have. But it will not affect my reputation in anyway.

To illustrate this, if user A with a reputation of 66.3 downvotes me(72), my reward payout will be reduced based on the staked SP in his wallet, the downvote will not reduce my reputation.

Conclusion

This lecture is a great reminder of the need to work hard, using my proof of brain to experience an organ8c growth in my steemit reputation. I also do not need to buy votes to achieve that since it will mean working against the etiquette of the blockchain.

I have also learned about what Raw reputation score is and how it can be used to calculate my present reputation, which I cleared showed how to do it.

The lecture also taught me the effect of upvote and downvote by users on my account.

Finally, I appreciate the explanation as to why #club5050 is a very good initiative. Personally, I would want the supply dynamics to revert back to its original system, in which only 25% liquid steem of the payout rewards are only circulated into the market.

This will greatly improve the steemit ecosystem and enhance the value of steem token.

Thank you so much @sapwood for this great lecture.