Great post - really digging the link directly to the source code. wish more people would do that.
Regardless of what "the blockchain thinks" or "the whitepaper says", using a $ sign will make people think you mean USD. It's not a good design decision - the fact that we need to have tons of posts, chrome extensions, and discussion is evident of that. Replace it with some Steem-related icon and everyone will be happier.
Thank you for your comments!
Concerning the design decision: It is by design though. Because it will return to 1 USD anyway. That said, they really could make it clear what the proportion of payout will look like (how many SBD and how many SP)
STU is not that steem related icon, that's for sure. That makes it equally confusing.
I'm going to make an adjustment to my post shortly that I hope will help. My thinking is along these lines:
I'm the blockchain and I say this post will have roughly 144$ USD worth of value. So I give you a fraction of that in STEEM's worth, which is accurate due to our price feeds being accurate (this is not a given, funnily enough), and a fraction of in these coupons that I say are worth 1 USD.
Am I wrong in reporting the number as 144$? Not really. The market is valuing these coupons for more than 1 USD due to their rarity. And possibly heavy misunderstanding. Possibly desire to buy it and send them to bid bots. Whatever it is, it is temporary due to what I mentioned about the print rate as STEEM's value rises.