Hi Moe,

These are of course very important questions.

I've actively exchanged Steem for fiat and received Steem for the SILVERengines proton colloidal silver generator that I sell.

With Steem presently as undervalued as it seems to be, I'm much more inclined to be willing to exchange things and receive Steem than I would be to sell any more of my Steem. Honestly, when I sold Steem last year, it was more a matter of desperation than anything else.

If SBD could really somehow be more strongly pegged to the value of the US dollar, I would be more inclined to use it as a currency. I suspect that was part of the intention of the original design, but we have of course seen its value fluctuate pretty wildly.

Having said all that, I think something that would really help Steem grow and be used more as a currency would be to create halawa-like cooperatives of Steem holders who would pool their funds and become private exchanges for fiat for anyone who wanted to transmit funds overseas. If there were widely available non-intrusive exchanges that charged reasonable fees, and wide enough adoption, such pools would gradually grow in value.

Thanks for a thought provoking article.

😄😇😄