RE: Why isn't Steem Power interest earned clearly displayed in the Steemit UI?
SP "interest" is (or more precisely anti-dilution payments are) earned every single block (3 seconds). The rate will vary depending on ratios of powered-up and powered-down Steem, but ends up being reasonably close to the rate of growth in the entire Steem money supply.
These "interest" or anti-dilution payments serve to largely offset the dilution that occurs when new Steem is created out of thin air to pay rewards. When the money supply doubles, you will find that your SP balance has (almost, assuming current ratios) doubled, meaning your share of the SP has not changed much.
SBD also earns interest, but the mechanism is slightly different. The rate is 10% per year (set by witnesses) and it is credited whenever your SBD balance changes but no sooner than 30 days after your last SBD interest payment.
Makes sense. My main question though is why do SBD payments show up in /transfers history, but there is no trace of SP anti-dilution payments anywhere?
Clearly displaying anti-dilution payments at the very least provides more transparency to users on what is happening to balances. And at best, I think it can become a good positive feedback loop for the platform.
The underlying mechanisms are somewhat different, and this explains why SBD interest appears in your wallet and SP interest/antidilution does not.
SBD interest is paid directly to each user, so it shows up as a payment in your wallet. SP antidilution is paid (each block) to a single fund called the vesting fund, in which SP holders own shares called VESTS. Your VESTS are worth more STEEM every time these payment are made, but the number of VESTS you hold stays the same. That is, no individual payments are made to each user, so nothing shows up in your wallet.
Alternatively if the payment did show up in your wallet every three seconds, that would be a LOT of clutter!
Got it, thanks.
Regardless of the underlying mechanism, I still think something could be done to make the SP earned more clear to users. Perhaps a "daily SP earned" category or something of that nature.
Agree with you.