So it's a semantics game and steem/SBDs are interchangeable from the SMT creation standpoint, except that the minimum amount will be set at the nominal value of whatever 1 SBD is.

Perhaps then some deep pocketed players have deemed it necessary to accumulate SBDs and drive their value higher to establish a cost barrier to entry in the SMT creation market whenever SMTs are ultimately launched. Who knows really.

Nonetheless, SBDs are plainly described as an experimental asset in the SMT white paper: "SBD (Steem Blockchain Dollars) are an experimental asset on Steem that relate to the US Dollar, originating with Steem’s launch in 2016."

And this experiment of being pegged in value to $1 USD has been disproved by the free market since November 2017. I don't understand why the inherent potential of SBDs continues to be misrepresented to the userbase and general public. Why impose a self-defined constraint on their value when the free market has no interest in doing so?