![](https://i.imgur.com/D5bGOon.png)

*This is a follow-up to my previous post, [How Steem Changes the Game for Open Source Software](https://steemit.com/github/@benslayton/how-steem-changes-the-game-for-open-source-software).*

## To The Steemit Community

First and foremost, I want to thank the community here for showing me much love. While I am very grateful for the love of being on the Steemit homepage and for the rewards my post generated, I am talking about the love that everyone showed me in the comments. Thank you all so much for the comments and love you showed. Thank you, for not leaving me hanging in the wild, on the internet. The Steemit community, you are truly amazing. Seriously, thank you all so much! 

## To Everyone
A few days ago, I posted about, [How Steem Changes the Game for Open Source Software](https://steemit.com/github/@benslayton/how-steem-changes-the-game-for-open-source-software). In the article, I presented ways that Steem can be leveraged to benefit open source software in the present and ways it can potentially be leveraged in the future. 

## The Proof Is In The Pudding
Not even two days after I wrote on how game changing Steem is for open source, [this happens](https://steemit.com/piston/@xeroc/piston-web-first-open-source-steem-gui---searching-for-alpha-testers). @xeroc releases [*piston.web*](https://steemit.com/piston/@xeroc/piston-web-first-open-source-steem-gui---searching-for-alpha-testers), which is... drum roll please... open source. Within 24 hours, @xeroc's announcement of *piston.web* generated \$44,000 dollars.

![](https://i.imgur.com/CVsQBy9.png)

## Say What?

![](https://i.giphy.com/5p2wQFyu8GsFO.gif)

At this point, you may find yourself wondering a few things. When does @xeroc get his money and how much does he *actually* get? That's a great question. Here's the basic rundown of how payout rewards work.

Payout rewards happen every 24 hours, starting from when the post is published*. When the network pays out a reward, it gives 75% of that reward to the author, and  the remaining 25%\*\* to the content curators. Content curators are the people who up-vote (the equivalent of a facebook like) posts. Content curators get rewarded for curating quality content on the network. 

Within the Steem platform, you have STEEM, STEEM POWER (SP), and STEEM DOLLARS (SD or SBD). So I don't have to reinvent the wheel, [here's a great post that explains the differences](https://steemit.com/steemit/@donkeypong/still-confused-by-steem-steem-dollars-and-steem-power-the-power-plant-analogy).

Out of the 75% reward that the author gets, half of it is given in steem power (SP) and the other half is given in steem dollars (SD or SBD). Steem dollars can be cashed out immediately while steem power is treated a bit differently. In the case of @xeroc's post, he received exactly 22,264.246 SBD (Steem dollars). Let's find out how much money @xeroc would have if he cashed out now.

At the current time of posting this article the current market rates are:

-  3.493745 SBD = 1 STEEM
- 1 STEEM = 0.00536256 BTC (bitcoin)
- 1 BTC = 662.95 US Dollars

If we follow the math, we will see how much @xeroc, gets to take home.

`22,264.246` ÷ `3.493745` = `6,372.60189281 STEEM`<br>
`6,372.60189281` x `0.00536256` = `34.1734600063 BTC`<br>
`34.1734600063` x `662.95` = `$22,655.30`

And there you have it. If @xeroc cashed out at the time of posting this, he would have received **\$22,655.30** in USD. Wow! And that doesn't even include any additional potential earnings from [steem power](https://steemit.com/steemit/@donkeypong/still-confused-by-steem-steem-dollars-and-steem-power-the-power-plant-analogy)! Imagine how many open source projects would be transformed with the power of steem.

![](https://media4.giphy.com/media/m7FO0p9hTc59e/giphy.gif)

If you're an open source developer, and you're still not convinced of Steem, I don't know what will convince you. Last I checked, github doesn't pay you anything when you commit code, submit a new release, changelogs, etc.

___

*<small>\*[There's a soon to be update](https://github.com/steemit/steem/releases/tag/v0.12.0) to the platform that changes the payout time to every 12 hours. Also, there is a mechanism in place to prevent people from gaming the system that could extend the payout time to greater than the default payout time.*

*\*\*Any curators who up-vote within the first 30 minutes of the post being published, will share a portion of their reward with the author. This is for good cause to prevent gamification of the system.</small>*