Hybrid Pricing for Crude Mining Lenses

With the price of Crude Mining Lenses quoted in $EVE, it is necessary to consider how any potential volatility of the $EVE token would impact gameplay.

A hybrid pricing approach to the sale of Crude Mining Lenses is proposed, where each lens is priced in $EVE, so the price of the lenses rises and falls in correlation with the price of the $EVE token. The hybrid aspect of this pricing model refers to the fact that it maintains a fiat-based price threshold. Once the $EVE token exceeds the threshold, the pricing of the lens in fiat terms remains capped, and the number of $EVE tokens required for payment does not increase further.

The hybrid-pricing of new Crude Mining Lenses can be expressed by the following formula:

$$P =min(p_Eq, kp_Eq^*) = p_Emin(q, kq^*)$$

Where:

$P$ = the price of the Crude Mining Lens expressed in dollars

$P_E$ = the price of the Crude Mining Lens in $EVE tokens

$min(p_Eq, kp_Eq^*)$ = the lower of the two values, $p_Eq$ and $kp_Eq*$ (explained below)

$p_Eq$ = the floating price of the lens based on the price of $EVE, calculated as the lens price in $EVE multiplied by the price of the $EVE token

$kp_Eq^*$ = the fixed-price cap, calculated as the lens price in $EVE multiplied by the estimated stable value of $EVE () and then multiplied by a policy factor $K$ set to establish a reasonable maximum market price

To illustrate, if we assume the following:

Crude Mining Lens in $EVE = 5 $EVE

$EVE token price = $2 USD

Estimated stable $EVE value = $0.667 USD

Factor $k$ = 1.5

Then, using those values: Floating price

$p_Eq$ = 5 $EVE ✕ $2USD

= $10 USD price of a Crude Mining Lens in fiat dollar terms

Fixed-price cap

$kp_Eq^*$ = 1.5 ✕ (5 $EVE ✕ 0.667)

= $5 USD capped price of a Crude Mining Lens in fiat dollar

Fiat pricing

$P$ = min($10, $5)

= $5 USD price of a Crude Mining Lens in fiat dollar terms

If the current token valuation of $EVE exceeds the reference value, scaled with the policy constant, the formula will set the dollar price of a lens to the capped maximum. In the example, the lens would be priced at $5.00. At a token price of $2.00, this corresponds to an actual cost of 2.5 $EVE, instead of 5 $EVE.