This posts has some random thoughts on the practice of burning coins.
I am not planning on burning the coins received for this post. But I will be burning coins in a different project.
The picture, taken by me, shows a large fire I sat next to a few years back.
The BuildAWhale Burn Series
The account @buildawhale runs a regular series of burn posts. I suspect that they are using the burn feature in the peakd.com editor. This feature automatically sends the author rewards for a post to null.
I like to upvote burn posts during a market dip. I believe that burning coins on the downside can help reduce the amount of HIVE floating on the market and can help stabilize the price.
If you looked through the buildawhale history; you will see that they have burned a significant amount of HIVE through the years. I wish they published statistics as I suspect that they have burned several thousand dollars in coin.
I admit, I have upvoted the burn posts several times. I am especially prone to vote for burn posts in the middle of the night when I simply want to complete my curation task for the day.
Sometimes I am called away from the computer. I simply upvote a burn post or two.
Burning Coins Reduces Total Author Rewards
In my opinion the biggest downside to upvoting posts in the @buildawhale series is that the program burns author rewards the might otherwise be received by a deserving author.
I usually upvote the burn posts when I am just too tire to read any more posts.
I don't like losing curation rewards by letting my voting power sit at 100% for long periods. I don't like upvoting posts that I haven't read.
I know that many of the authors on HIVE really need the money they earn from HIVE.
When I click on the burn post I know that I am depriving authors of potential rewards.
There have been times when I just randomly upvote posts.
I am often horrified when I look back the next day to see what I upvoted.
The fact that upvoting a burn post reduces the total rewards going to authors is my primary complaint against burn posts.
Burn Posts and Market Capitalization
Burning a coin reduces the amount of coin in existence. The hope is that a reduction in the number of existing coins might result in a higher coin price.
Unfortunately, reducing the float also decrease the market capitalization of the coin.
The market capitalization is the amount of coin in existence times the current price.
Increasing the Market Capitalization of HIVE and HBD
I am not a fan of the 20% interest paid on HBD savings.
Apparently, the witnesses are convinced that the market capitalization of HBD must be higher to encourage adoption of HIVE.
I think they are wrong. But I am accustomed to losing arguments.
The HIVE algorithm uses HIVE to guarantee the price of HBD. To prevent a scary scenario called a "death spiral," the system incorporates a feature called a haircut. The haircut used to kick in at 10%. It now kicks in at 30%.
HBD investors know to liquidate their HBD if the HBD marcap gets too close to 30%.
The Ausbit HBD Monitor shows the market capital of HBD and HIVE. It currently reports that the ratio is 5.7%
It was pushing 7.5% before the last market dip.
I mentioned the HBD/HIVE ratio because the only way to increase the HBD market
Investors converted more than a million HBD to HIVE during the dip. I suspect that some investors panicked during the market dip.
Essentially, we saw the minting of 2.5 million HIVE in the last dip. This puts pressure on HIVE in a weak market.
As mentioned earlier. I upvote burn posts during down markets as I believe that the action will improve the blockchain.
However, I am also aware that burning coins reduces the total number of coins which reduces the reported capitalization of the system.
Burning creates a quandry. Burning coins helps reduce the float. This should help the price of HIVE. Burning reduces the total number of coins which affects the market capitalization and undermines the effort to create a massive HBD capitalization.
Burning Alt Coins
In addition to the HIVE earnings, the @buildawhale burn program burns several alt coins.
The amount of alt coins burnt is based on the alt coins held by the users who upvote the burn posts. Most of the people who upvote the burn posts have a small number of coins. so the buildawhale burn post is burning only a few alt coins.
Your Thoughts On Burning Coins
Anyway, I have some ideas on creating a better burn program. But before I express my thoughts, I thought I would ask the HIVE public what they think about burn posts and what they would want to see in a coin burning program.
I hope you noticed that this post was very much a free form post with random thoughts about burning coins. It really doesn't have a conclusion.
Please feel free to drop comments below.