https://steemit.com/steem/@steemitblog/final-review-of-steem-economic-changes
To answer your question about the powering down process, it is incremental with 1/13 powered down per week. The remaining portion stays powered up and continues to earn vesting rewards (as well as retaining voting rights, bandwidth rights, etc.)
There is fixed no cap on the supply, though the rate of inflation will eventually reduce to 1%.
If you have other questions after reading the above, please let me know.
I've been reading quite a bit about Steem and its platform steemit and have been considering to buy some Steem.
While I find the project particularly interesting and promising, I'm having a hard time understanding the underlying structure of the steem assets as well as to find up to date information about the coin.
Here are a few questions that I had trouble answering after reading the github readme, parts of the whitepaper, the official website and steemit articles. I apologize if there is another source that I am not aware of where I could have found my response and look forward to hear from anyone here to help me out.
What is the current rate of inflation for Steem ? I read it is 100% but I also read that it was recently reduced, where can I find release notes that can point me in the right direction ?
What is the time required to power down SP ? On the official website it says that it will take 104 weeks of weekly installments but again on the forum I can find that it was reduced to 13, with again no source that I could rely on to confirm that info.
Is there a total number of Steem or will there be always new Steems coming due to the vesting process ?
If I own some Steem and I don't power it up, am I just losing money due to the inflation ? However if I power it up and eventually decide to sell, do I have to wait 13 (or 104) weeks to be able to sell ? But then during those 13 or 104 weeks, I will also suffer from the inflation rate ( except if I market sell my steem as soon as I receive the weekly installment, which is not necessarily the goal ).
From my understanding both ways are a lose lose situation, so I assume that my understanding is incorrect as this is a widely popular project. Again, I'm looking forward to anyone with a better understanding of Steem to help clear up those interrogations.
Thanks !