After the chat, there was a huge amount of uncertainty about whether the 2018 Steem Silver Round would still go on. As the creator of the Steem Silver Round I can tell you that the round will most definitely still be happening!!!
After speaking with @phelimint, he decided it would be best for him not to be associated with the 2018 Steem Silver Round any longer. @phelimint handed over all the keys to the @steemsilverround account. New keys have been generated and have been shared with @raybrockman and will be shared with a few other members of the community.
@phelimint also passed along the customer list and is giving over the Reverse side die that will be used for the 2018 Steem Silver Round. @welshstacker's winning design will be used as the obverse side of the 2018 Steem Silver Round!!
Questions & Answers
- Will the coins be available for pre-order? If so, when can a pre-order be placed?
Answer: This is not the easiest question to answer. With @phelimint no longer being involved in this process, it may take longer to get things in place. In order to take payments online, it seems like I am going to have to create an e-commerce website to allow people to place orders. To take crypto as payments, there are some additional steps that are going to have to take place. I believe it was @thedamus that helped with @phelimint get this set up last year. The domain www.steemsilverround.com has been purchased and will be used as the e-commerce site to purchase the rounds when they are available for pre-order. Once the site gets up we will be accepting pre-orders. If there are some e-commerce gurus that are willing to assist with this process please get in contact with me.
- What will the cost be for the rounds?
Answer: The price has not been set yet, but I would guess that the price will be somewhere around the same as last year. Last year the rounds were around $24/each. This all-in price will depend on whether we do a 3D design for the obverse (@welshstacker's design), the price of silver when the order is placed, and the total amount that we order.
- I have round #XXXX and want to get the same round as I have in the 2017 Steem Silver Round. Can I do so? If so, what do I need to do?
Answer: I have the current client list as well as the serial numbers that everyone had when the rounds were initially ordered. @phelimint and I agreed to give everyone who ordered a round with a serial number up 94 or 95 to be able to receive that specific round again if they would like it at no extra cost. As you know, many of these rounds have changed hands multiple times so the original list is not going to be very accurate. In order to combat that, we will need to create a way to verify who is the current holder of the round. My initial thought was having a proof of ownership where there is a standard way to prove you are currently the holder of the round. Due to the extra worked involved there may be an extra fee for every round that is requested. This can be discussed further in the comments.
- What mint will be used this year?
Answer: We will still use the same mint (North American Mint) to produce the rounds as we used for the 2017 Steem Silver Round. @Phelimint uses this mint to get most, if not all of their rounds produced. You can visit their website at http://www.northamericanmint.com/.
- What happened to the donations getting refunded from @steemsilverround?
Answer: My initial thought for crowdfunding as much of the Steem Silver Round was a idealistically a good idea, but in reality caused some problems. @phelimint refunded any donations to the owner from the @steemsilverround account. The rounds will be more expensive than if the crowdfund continued, but @phelimint felt it was best to refund every.
Decisions to be Made
There are a few things we need to decide on as a community before moving forward:
- How many rounds do we want to produce?
- Do we want to put a cap to the number of rounds that can be placed by anyone individual? If so, what is that limit going to be? Of course, if a cap is put in place and we don't sell all of the rounds, those individuals can certainly buy more.
- Do we want to do a 3D design for the obverse side (@welshstacker's) or the standard 2D design? The 3D adds a nice touch and I think will really make the design pop! If I recall, the 3D design was an extra $1500 - $2000 total for the die, which should be less than $1 per coin.
I hope this clears up some confusion! I know we are all starting to get antsy for the 2018 Steem Silver Round, but it will be here before we know it. The faster we can get the website up and start accepting payments, the quicker we can get the silver ordered, and the rounds in your hands!