I've been with Steemit since August. When I signed up, I couldn't really understand why anyone would try to peg a cryptocurrency to the US Dollar (or any fiat for that matter). I guess it makes sense if you're trying to attract non-crypto people to the platform to "pay" people in "dollars", so I get it from that perspective, but the Steem Dollars aspect always seemed to complicate an already difficult-to-explain platform. (One that I really like and am glad exists, though.)
With a recent update however, post payouts have no longer included Steem Dollars. I've been receiving Steem and Steem Power for my payouts recently and besides the posts addressing the change, I haven't found any explanation of what will be happening to Steem Dollars.
There no longer seems to be any way to acquire Steem Dollars via the Steemit platform. There's no way to convert Steem or Steem Power into Steem Dollars, and posts are no longer being paid in Steem Dollars. It would appear that in order to acquire Steem Dollars, one would have to trade for them on an exchange.
The Steem Dollars I happen to have left are still accruing interest, but aside from trading on exchanges for more SBD, there appears to be no way to acquire more through Steemit.
Does this mean that Steem Dollars will be eliminated? If not, why are they still part of this platform? What's their point now?
Thanks for your input in advance.