Could someone give me some explanation as to why anyone would convert BTC to STEEM POWER? (not STEEM which is debased 92.5% to 100% yearly)
arhag's (currently #1 ranked) post summarizes some of the thinking, and also I'd suggest my comment there for a bit of elaboration. In essence Steem Power is a prepaid subscription to network access. By stocking up on Steem Power now you are speculating that access to the network will be worth more to more people in the future, who will then be clamoring to buy tiny slices of your Steem Power to get in or to maintain their access. Obviously, that is a very risky bet (all cryptos are, including Bitcoin).
https://steemit.com/steem/@arhag/where-does-the-money-come-from-a-look-into-the-economics-of-steemThanks for sharing that. His calculation is wrong on the 5% tax for STEEM POWER. I
already showed it is 15 - 21%!
Users might be willing to pay to gamble, but you can't charge more than the competition can sell the same service for. Thus the cost will be reduced by competition to the cost of securing the blockchain (since that is the only cost that applies to the rate limit), which in DPoS is very small and currently targeted to be 0.750% of the market capitalization per year. That is not enough to counteract the massive debasement of SP.
The economics of Steem are highly flawed.