Update on How to buy Steem Power, the quick and easy way
A quick tutorial
In simple steps using Dogecoin and the service of Blocktrades
Image cc-by-sa @oaldamster.
Let's get some
Steem Power helps you raise your voting strength. It is an investment in Steem {STM} for a longer term. For this you get a small percentage of dividend too. The value of Steem Power {SP} is the same as that of Steem. Moving your Steem Power investment back into Steem takes 13 weeks, that is called Powering Down {PD}. In this post I'm going to focus on how to buy Steem Power, the easy way.
Buy Steem or Steem Power
The most simple way to go about this is to use your build in Wallet at SteemIt dot com, for instance. There you will find a button that says: [BUY STEEM OR STEEM POWER] After you clicked on it you will be taken to the website of Blocktrades dot US. This is a fast conversion service that is very well intregrated with the Steem Social Media Platform.
Make your choice
Then you have the choice what Crypto to buy the Steem Power with. Most of the time I do use Dogecoin for this. Because it is fast and cheap to do so. You can choose which one with the 'Send...' dropdown menu, this one defaults to Bitcoin. Under 'Receive...' choose Steem Power from the dropdown menu, as this defaults to Steem.
Convert Dogecoin to Steem Power, for instance
Then fill in the amount of Steem Power you want to Receive or the amount of Dogecoin you want to send. (You could also set a Steem Wallet memo if you like.) The interface will calculate the right value for the conversion. This is however an approximation, as the Cryptos market does fluctuate.
After that you can click on the [Get Deposit Address] button, if you are sure you have all the settings set the way you want it too.
How much to covert?
The specific data then will be shown where to send the payment to, with Dogecoin and other Cryptos that will be an address. When you have a mobile it is easy to use the QR-code to make the payment. Multiwallets like CoinOmi (Android only) and JAXX (iPhone & Android) do support this.
NOTE: For Bitshares payments there will also be a Memo presented that you need to use.
Then something like this will show up
After you send the amount of Crypto, Dogecoin for instance, Blocktrades will wait for it to arrive. As its service is very fast it will only take a short while, at least when using DOGE that is. (Bitcoin and Ethereum might take longer and are more expensive. BTC even very expensive.) Dogecoin is the most effective way to trade for Steem and the other way round, from my own personal experience.
Very fast confirmation, and there the SP is
This 'howto' was aimed at Steemians who are new to this subject and would like to buy more Steem Power. It creates bigger rewards for curating and from 500 SP and upwards there is a Voting Power Percentage Slider that can be used. Basicly the value of Steem Power in an account Wallet determines the amount of interaction that is possible with the Steem blockchain.
Or to simplefy it even more: the more SP, the better...
Have a great one!
All screenshots were taken and edited by @oaldamster.
This is an adjusted republication of a previous outdated post about buying SP.
Thanks! That was super helpful!
It is my pleasure.
For a newbie here, I was a bit overwhelmed what SP, STM and SBD is. Now that I understood, I'm planning to have some SP either by STM or BTC. Your post will help me heaps! Thanks a lot. Also, do you know if the fee is cheaper if I power up from STM to SP vs BTC to SP?
You're welcome, glad to know I was able to clearify it a bit.
All transactions on Steem are free of fee. So Powering up from STM to SP has a ZERO transaction fee. You can do this from within your wallet, it is in the dropdown menu at the Steem part.
Transactions from BTC to SP, using Blocktrades, will cost the fee that the Bitcoin network charges. To me that only would make sense for transactions with a value of 650 USD or more.
If you have Litecoin, or preferably Dogecoin, than I would advice using them. As their transaction fees are way cheaper than BTC, and way faster.
But none of them can beat the ZERO transaction fee of Steem. Wether SBD to STM, STM powerup to SP, all for free.
Oh you gave me my first vote, you'll be memorable to me! Thanks a lot!
And Wow! ZERO transaction fees are a first in my short experience with cryptocurrencies. That is very impressive and would be a big nudge for me to really start with steemit. Thanks for the advice on Litecoin and Dogecoin, well noted.
You are welcome, it is my pleasure!
Steem is pretty amazing in many aspects. Zero fees is just one of them. It is extremely underestimated and undervalued.
Except for those who are using it of course.
Have a great time at Steem!
I will. Thanks again, that was a great initiation!
Used/converted some Woofies today also to power up. Kept a bit for ... you never know ...
Yes, do keep some Doogies, as I think they might be itching for a jump...
Exactly for that same reason I've kept some.
Have a great weekend and ofcourse ..... Latex!
A great weekend to you too!
Latex
Great job, I hope many will power up after reading your article!
Thanks, even small amounts by many accounts already would be nice.
Yep, small and many accounts is even better than a few big accounts. It helps maintaining decentralization. I hope I will be able to reach 500 SP soon too! If Steem price will ever get under 2 dollars again, I am going to buy some!
Well maybe now with Steem at a new All Time High some huge Steem holding accounts will sell. So more can buy a bit lower, but I doubt if it will go back to 2 USD...
Expecting it to go up more actually.
Hope you get to 500 SP soon!
I hope that too. Do you think that SBD will pump again so I could catch a good conversion rate to Steem?
To be honest, I doubt it that SBD will get two, three or even upto five times more expensive as Steem again. Yet I did notice on the internal market that more and more are selling Steem for SBD again.
Seems unlikely to me it would happen again. But it is a crazy chaotic time in Cryptos right now. So I am mainly HODLin.
I understand. Thank you so much, I guess I will hold a few in case of a hudge pump, but as they were made to be traded at around 1 dollar, I will convert most of them to SP now :D
Saw indeed on the internal market that many were reversing, buying SBD with Steem.
Not convinced yet myself. ;-)
Powering up, doge style!! Like it!
Much fast, such cheap! :-)
Bedankt voor je post.. weer een nederlander die ik nog niet eerder gezien heb.. Thx for the post..
Graag gedaan, het wordt nog wel wat hier met al die Nederlanders!
very helpful - thanks!
It is my pleasure.
Nice article
Thank you.
@oaldamster - So, I bought STEEM coins on bittrex before getting a steemit account. In order to convert to SP, I'd have to withdraw on bittrex to my steemit wallet address? Or if using another coin to buy SP, withdraw into blocktrades to convert?
Also, am I correct in saying that converting STEEM => SP is only beneficial if you think your upvotes and/or content and/or comments will earn more than the STEEM is worth? I'm a little confused on the use case for powering up/down.
Anyway, thx for the writeup!
If you have Steem on Bittrex you can send the right to your @hornetnz account. And then from your wallet do a Power Up from Steem -> SP {Steem Power}.
When you want to use another Crypto, one that is supported by Blocktrades, you can use their service right away to have it converted from Dogecoin, for instance, to Steem Power.
SP is your Stake in the Steem blockchain, the more you have the more dividend you get. When you have a very small amount of Steem Power in stake you will hardly notice this dividend. But when you have a couple of thousand SP you can notice this as your Steem Power will grow every minute or so. The more SP you have in stake the more and faster this adds up.
Furthermore more SP in stake gives you more voting strength. It will determine how much a post gets in rewards, from the rewardpool, and how much you get for curating that post, after 7 days.
Also from 500 SP upwards you can use a voting slider, so you can set your vote from 1 to a 100% at will. So you can give more upvotes for more posts, without your voting battery getting drained right away.
Holding SP is for the long term. Building it up gives more influence on the blockchain, higher payouts and more dividend.
But it takes 13 weeks to Power Down the SP out off stake and into the liquid Steem form again.
Hope I was able to clearify it a bit more for you.
Good luck at Steem!
Thanks for the explanation.
But so is STEEM coin, no?? Except STEEM price is tied to the crypto exchange? And the dividends of SP are tied to...?
SP is just Steem that has been put in stake.
Steem is an average market price of 3.5 days.
The dividend is a percentage of the Steem that is created with every new block. Part of that is being reserved for dividend payments. Think it is about 2% a year. But it is added to your SP as soon as it reaches the value of 0.001, it would be ~ 0.000228 percent per hour.
Because Steem has 3 second blocks it would be about 0.00000019%. That would give a dividend multiplier per 3 seconds of 0.0000000019, so it will take quite some SP to be noticed. About 500'000 SP would it take to add 0.001 SP every block. But that would add up to 28.8 SP dividend per day.
This is merely an example, could be that I'm a bit off with the exact numbers. But basicly this is how it works.
Thanks for the clarification. I'll get a handle on it eventually! :)
It is my pleasure, it can be a lot to take in at once. ;-)
Have a good time at Steem.