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#### (1) What is STU? What is the break-up of STU? Take a real example to indicate the STU and calculate the different rewards that Author and Curators generated from your last Post Payout? (Screenshot required)
### <center>What is STU?</center>
STU stands for Steem Token Unite, which is used to represent the values of the different tokens for post payout on the steem blockchain. STU is made up of the three steem blockchain tokens, that is Steem, Steem Dollar(SBD), and Steem Power(SP). STU is a term mostly used by the developers on the steem blockchain to put together the three tokens in one place. Post payout carries the $(dollars) symbol but posts payout is not in USD.
### <center>What is the break-up of STU?</center>
The break-up of STU is how the token on the steem blockchain is split into two for the authors and curators. By default post payout is set to 50% by 50%. one part of the 50% is rewarded to curators and the other part to the author. The curator's 50% for the post payout is in SP while the author's parts are divided in SP + SBD, which is supposed to be in a 50/50 ratio.
Why did I use the word supposed, this is because the change in the debt ratio can cause the authors 50% to be divided in SP + SBD depending on the debt ratio. There are three scenarios, cases where the debt ratio is below 9%, cases where the debt ratio is between 9-10%, and cases where it is above 10%. Let's try to look at the different breaks up of STU following the debt ratio.
* ***Debt ratio below 9%***
This is the scenario where author rewards are maintained to implement the 50/50 ratio on the 50% payout. Normally 1 SBD is supposed to equal 1 USD, here is the mechanism to maintain the stable nature of SBD. This is so that the same amount of SBD can equal the same amount of Steem.
* ***Debt ratio between 9-10%***
This is the scenario where the author's 50% payout reward is divided into steem, SBD, and SP. as the debt ratio stays between 9 and 10%, the value for the three tokens will depend on the ratio. (note one portion for SBD and STEEM and the other for SP
* Illustration
Let set debt ratio is 9.4, Calculate the print rate for SBD
Formula:
From the result, 60% of the liquid reward will be paid as SBD and the rest 40 will be paid as Steem
* ***Debt ratio above 10%***
Here is the situation where SBD will be stopped from printing and the author reward will be in SP and Steem. No SBD is rewarded for post payout.
Calculate the different rewards that Author and Curators generated from your last Post Payout?
100% Post payout $34.18
50% Author Post Payout $17.10
50% curation Post Payout $17.08
Like I mentioned above, the Author reward will be divided into Steem, SBD, and So depending on the debt ratio at the time of payout while the curator reward is paid as SP depending on the price of steem at the time of payout.
To have the different rewards that I can get from my post, I will do a small illustration using the three scenarios of the debt ratio to calculate. Note this post was set at 50SBD / 50SP, and not 100%SP. In all scenarios the 50% curation payout is constant, so I will be working on the 50% author payout
* ***Below 9%***
At this point, the debt ratio is accepted to be 50/50. Which will mean whatever amount of SBD is equivalent to the same amount of steem. Let assump that the current price of steem in dollars is 0.5811
SBD = 17.10/2 = 8.549
SP = 8.549/ steem price
SP = 8.549/0.5811
SP = 14.712
This is a situation where we are believing that the price for SBD is equivalent to 1 USD
* ***Between 9 to 10***
Let use my assumption above, 60% of the post payout is SBD
60/100 x 8.549 = 5.129 SBD
40% of the post payout is Steem
40/100 x 8.549 = 3.42 SBD
Therefore: 3.42/0.5811 = 5.885 steem
So if the debt ratio is between 9 and 10, my last post will be distributed as follow
SBD= 5.129
steem = 5.885
SP = 14.712
* ***Above 10%***
Like I mentioned above, no SBD is printed, so post payout will be in steem and SP.
Steem = 8.549/0.5811 = 14.712
SP => 8.549/0.5811 = 14.712
#### (2) Indicate the Raw reputation score of your Steem Account and calculate your Reputation? Cross-check it with the Reputation score displayed in Steemworld.org?
My Raw reputation 89,921,928,932,420.000
Let calculate my Reputation
Note 25 is the initial reputation that was set when my account was created.
Therefore :
<center> ({Log10(89,921,928,932,420.000) - 9} x 9)+25</center>
<center>({13.953865614458535801612390594333 - 9 }x9)+25</center>
<center>(4.9538656144585358016123905943334 x 9)+25</center>
<center>44.584790530126822214511515349001 + 25</center>
<center>69.584790530126822214511515349001</center>
#### <center> 69.585</center>
#### (3) What percentage(of the Post Payout) was generated as liquid rewards(SBD) from your last Post in terms of USD equivalent? Explain how the rise of SBD has shifted the supply dynamics? As per your last post payout calculate the ratio of Author:Curator Reward in terms of USD equivalent?
As I mentioned above, post payout on the steem blockchain by default is set to 50/50, one portion for the curator and the other portion for the author. The author part is broken again into two, that is SBD and Steem depending on the debt ratio. From my last post payout, the author's liquid reward was $ 17.10 in terms of the USD equivalent. The author's reward is then split into SBD and SP.
From the above screenshot, my post payout was SBD 8.549 and SP 14.712 which imply that the debt ratio was below 9%
### <center>Explain how the rise of SBD has shifted the supply dynamics?</center>
From my post, I had 8.549 SBD rewarded as post payout. Following the rise of SBD from 1USD which was meant to be to about 7.25 of recent has shifted the supply dynamic on the steem economy.
From the statistic,
Worth of SBD in dollars = 8.549 x 7.25 = 61.980
Worth of author reward in dollars = Worth of SBD in dollars + SP reward
#### <center> 61.980 + 8.549 = 70.529 </center>
#### Worth of Curator Reward in dollars = $17.08
#### <center> Total Post payout (STU in USD) = 70.529 + 17.08 = 87.609 </center>
From the calculation above we can start seeing a very huge difference. Let go-ahead to get the % difference between the author liquid reward and total author reward.
Therefore: 61.980/87.609 x 100 = 70.746 %
Therefore: 70.529/87.609 x 100 = %80.752
Therefore: 100 -80.752 = 19.248
Author to curator payout ratio is 80.752: 19.248
post payout ratio ~ 80: 20
We can see how the author/curator has moved from a 50:50 ratio to an approximate 80:20 ratio due to the rise of SBD in the market from its 1 USD mark.
#### (4) Explain how & why an initiative like #club5050 can shift the demand/supply dynamics in favor of STEEM?
An initiative like #club5050 can shift the demand/supply dynamics in favor of STEEM Blockchain which will benefit both authors and curators. From the calculation above, the percentage of liquid reward has been at an increased rate which has been benefiting the authors and not every user on the steem ecosystem. Normally, the reward mechanism is to be equal in both SP and liquid reward and not more than as seen above on my last post payout. The total post payout for liquid reward is over 25% more than the SP reward.
Because of this authors have been creating a high selling pressure for the liquid reward in the market. As the pressure continues to rise, the supply and demand dynamics shift causing the price of steem to find it difficult to raise. As the demand keeps falling due to high selling pressure, investors get to lose from their initial deposit.
Trying to have a balance in both liquid reward and SP reward, the steemit team initiated #club5050. This is a situation where authors are encouraged to power up 50% of their liquid reward. Let look at a clear illustration from, y last post payout
SP = 8.549/0.5811 = 14.712 STEEM
SBD = 61.980/0.5811 = 106.66 STEEM
club5050 = 50/100 x 106.66 = 53.33
Powering up 53.33 Steem from the liquid reward will add up to the 14.712 STEEM, which will be a total of 68.042 SP which will be almost approximately 50 % of the total author reward. This will reduce the sale pressure and increase demand which will affect the price of Steem to rise.
To conclude, as more authors get engaged in the initiative (#club5050), the value of steem will move up and every user on the blockchain will benefit. While investors will be making huge profits in their investment, authors on the steemit platform will be getting juicy upvotes LOL.
#### (5) Consider a user having a reputation lower than you, upvotes your Post-- Does it affect the Payout and increase the Rep? If the same user goes for a downvote, does that affect your Payout and Reputation both? Explain Why & How; with Examples?
A user with a lower reputation than me happens to upvote my post, it will increase my payout and reputation. Note SP value determines your user influence on the steem blockchain, so a user with higher SP will influence my post payout and reputation even though I have a higher reputation.
I will illustrate by upvoting another user on the steemit platform with a higher reputation than me
* Before upvote
*Reputation 429,747,083,126,780.000*
* After upvote
*Reputation 429,748,116,037,664.000*
From the screenshots above, I upvoted a user with a higher reputation. As I mention, the post payout increases from 16.80 to 16.81, and his reputation also increased.
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In the case of a downvote, my post payout will be reduced depending on the percentage of downvotes. For my reputation, it will not be affected given that I have a higher reputation on the blockchain than the user and I'm in a better position to influence action on the steem blockchain than the users with the lower reputation.
* Before downvote
 *reputation 371,847,290,574,325.000*
* After downvote
From the screenshots above, I downvoted a user with a higher reputation. As I mention, the post payout was reduced from 1.80 to 1.76 but his reputation did not change.
Conclusion
This was an interesting course this week for any users who want to know about STU. I was able to calculate my reputation and had a more understanding of the Reward system mechanism for both authors and curators. the different debt ratios and how they affect author liquid reward and how to calculate. Most interesting was the #clube5050 initiative which has been campaigned on the steem blockchain to reduce the selling pressure and increase demand for the steem. The concept is to create some kind of balance between the total liquid reward and SP, which will benefit all the users on the steem blockchain.
cc: @sapwood
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Screenshots taken from <a href="https://steemit.com/">Steemit</a>, <a href="https://steemworld.org/ ">Steemworld</a>and <a href="https://steemdb.io/">Steemdb</a>
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