Here is a puzzle that has confused me for a while....
According to the blockchain feed history, we see the current median is: 108971932.401 SBD / 432256752.245 STEEM == 0.2521 SBD / STEEM.
$ curl -s --data '{"jsonrpc":"2.0", "method":"condenser_api.get_feed_history", "params":[], "id":1}' https://api.steemit.com | jq -S .result.current_median_history
{
"base": "108971932.401 SBD",
"quote": "432256752.245 STEEM"
}
This is consistent with what we see on SteemWorld:
But that value confuses me, in comparison to the actual price of STEEM. It doesn't make sense that this could actually be the median price. Also, in recent months, that value hasn't changed much no matter what happened with the price of STEEM.
In contrast, if we look at the actual price feed values, we see something different, the median value is 0.222:
$ curl -s --data '{"jsonrpc":"2.0", "method":"condenser_api.get_feed_history", "params":[], "id":1}' https://api.steemit.com | jq -Src .result.price_history[] | sort -n | cat -n
1 {"base":"0.216 SBD","quote":"1.000 STEEM"}
2 {"base":"0.216 SBD","quote":"1.000 STEEM"}
3 {"base":"0.216 SBD","quote":"1.000 STEEM"}
4 {"base":"0.216 SBD","quote":"1.000 STEEM"}
5 {"base":"0.216 SBD","quote":"1.000 STEEM"}
6 {"base":"0.216 SBD","quote":"1.000 STEEM"}
7 {"base":"0.217 SBD","quote":"1.000 STEEM"}
8 {"base":"0.217 SBD","quote":"1.000 STEEM"}
9 {"base":"0.217 SBD","quote":"1.000 STEEM"}
10 {"base":"0.217 SBD","quote":"1.000 STEEM"}
11 {"base":"0.217 SBD","quote":"1.000 STEEM"}
12 {"base":"0.217 SBD","quote":"1.000 STEEM"}
13 {"base":"0.217 SBD","quote":"1.000 STEEM"}
14 {"base":"0.218 SBD","quote":"1.000 STEEM"}
15 {"base":"0.218 SBD","quote":"1.000 STEEM"}
16 {"base":"0.219 SBD","quote":"1.000 STEEM"}
17 {"base":"0.219 SBD","quote":"1.000 STEEM"}
18 {"base":"0.219 SBD","quote":"1.000 STEEM"}
19 {"base":"0.220 SBD","quote":"1.000 STEEM"}
20 {"base":"0.220 SBD","quote":"1.000 STEEM"}
21 {"base":"0.220 SBD","quote":"1.000 STEEM"}
22 {"base":"0.220 SBD","quote":"1.000 STEEM"}
23 {"base":"0.220 SBD","quote":"1.000 STEEM"}
24 {"base":"0.220 SBD","quote":"1.000 STEEM"}
25 {"base":"0.221 SBD","quote":"1.000 STEEM"}
26 {"base":"0.221 SBD","quote":"1.000 STEEM"}
27 {"base":"0.221 SBD","quote":"1.000 STEEM"}
28 {"base":"0.221 SBD","quote":"1.000 STEEM"}
29 {"base":"0.221 SBD","quote":"1.000 STEEM"}
30 {"base":"0.221 SBD","quote":"1.000 STEEM"}
31 {"base":"0.221 SBD","quote":"1.000 STEEM"}
32 {"base":"0.221 SBD","quote":"1.000 STEEM"}
33 {"base":"0.221 SBD","quote":"1.000 STEEM"}
34 {"base":"0.221 SBD","quote":"1.000 STEEM"}
35 {"base":"0.222 SBD","quote":"1.000 STEEM"}
36 {"base":"0.222 SBD","quote":"1.000 STEEM"}
37 {"base":"0.222 SBD","quote":"1.000 STEEM"}
38 {"base":"0.222 SBD","quote":"1.000 STEEM"}
39 {"base":"0.222 SBD","quote":"1.000 STEEM"}
40 {"base":"0.222 SBD","quote":"1.000 STEEM"}
41 {"base":"0.222 SBD","quote":"1.000 STEEM"}
/**** Median here ****
42 {"base":"0.222 SBD","quote":"1.000 STEEM"}
43 {"base":"0.222 SBD","quote":"1.000 STEEM"}
****/
44 {"base":"0.222 SBD","quote":"1.000 STEEM"}
45 {"base":"0.223 SBD","quote":"1.000 STEEM"}
46 {"base":"0.223 SBD","quote":"1.000 STEEM"}
47 {"base":"0.223 SBD","quote":"1.000 STEEM"}
48 {"base":"0.223 SBD","quote":"1.000 STEEM"}
49 {"base":"0.224 SBD","quote":"1.000 STEEM"}
50 {"base":"0.224 SBD","quote":"1.000 STEEM"}
51 {"base":"0.224 SBD","quote":"1.000 STEEM"}
52 {"base":"0.224 SBD","quote":"1.000 STEEM"}
53 {"base":"0.225 SBD","quote":"1.000 STEEM"}
54 {"base":"0.225 SBD","quote":"1.000 STEEM"}
55 {"base":"0.225 SBD","quote":"1.000 STEEM"}
56 {"base":"0.225 SBD","quote":"1.000 STEEM"}
57 {"base":"0.225 SBD","quote":"1.000 STEEM"}
58 {"base":"0.226 SBD","quote":"1.000 STEEM"}
59 {"base":"0.227 SBD","quote":"1.000 STEEM"}
60 {"base":"0.227 SBD","quote":"1.000 STEEM"}
61 {"base":"0.227 SBD","quote":"1.000 STEEM"}
62 {"base":"0.227 SBD","quote":"1.000 STEEM"}
63 {"base":"0.227 SBD","quote":"1.000 STEEM"}
64 {"base":"0.227 SBD","quote":"1.000 STEEM"}
65 {"base":"0.227 SBD","quote":"1.000 STEEM"}
66 {"base":"0.227 SBD","quote":"1.000 STEEM"}
67 {"base":"0.228 SBD","quote":"1.000 STEEM"}
68 {"base":"0.228 SBD","quote":"1.000 STEEM"}
69 {"base":"0.231 SBD","quote":"1.000 STEEM"}
70 {"base":"0.231 SBD","quote":"1.000 STEEM"}
71 {"base":"0.231 SBD","quote":"1.000 STEEM"}
72 {"base":"0.231 SBD","quote":"1.000 STEEM"}
73 {"base":"0.231 SBD","quote":"1.000 STEEM"}
74 {"base":"0.232 SBD","quote":"1.000 STEEM"}
75 {"base":"0.232 SBD","quote":"1.000 STEEM"}
76 {"base":"0.232 SBD","quote":"1.000 STEEM"}
77 {"base":"0.232 SBD","quote":"1.000 STEEM"}
78 {"base":"0.232 SBD","quote":"1.000 STEEM"}
79 {"base":"0.232 SBD","quote":"1.000 STEEM"}
80 {"base":"0.232 SBD","quote":"1.000 STEEM"}
81 {"base":"0.233 SBD","quote":"1.000 STEEM"}
82 {"base":"0.233 SBD","quote":"1.000 STEEM"}
83 {"base":"0.237 SBD","quote":"1.000 STEEM"}
84 {"base":"0.243 SBD","quote":"1.000 STEEM"}
Which is more or less consistent with the actual price of STEEM.
Based on my observations last time the STEEM price crossed the SBD printing threshold, the $0.222 value is correct, and the price that the blockchain is reporting as the median price is actually the threshold value where SBDs will start printing again. If we, eventually, cross that threshold then I suspect that the two numbers will come back in sync?
It looks like someone asked the same question 4 years ago, but I'm not really satisfied with the answer. I guess the point is that the "current_median_history" value is not really a median, but rather that this was a kluge that was used to depeg the SBD, so that conversion from SBD to STEEM pays less than 1 SBD when the SBD market cap is higher than 10% of the STEEM market cap?
At the blockchain's reported median value, I could receive 3.96 STEEM / SBD for converting SBDs through the blockchain's conversion function. At the actual median value, I would have received 4.5 STEEM. So, the blockchain is reducing the payout by a factor of ( 0.222 / 0.2521 ).
A nice side-effect, if I'm understanding correctly, is that SteemWorld will always tell us the value where SBDs will start printing again (unless/until they actually do start printing again).
What do you think? Is there a clearer explanation anywhere to describe what's going on?