[Jhsto]

I asked friends who play why would Valve do this. Answers were divided to:

1. Valve wants to avoid regulatory scrutiny over loot boxes

2. Valve wants to limit prices; the Steam marketplace only allows items up to 2500 usd to be traded. By averaging out the item prices (knives drop, covert-class increases) they are able to indirectly limit the usefulness and harmful side effects (money laundering, decentralized liquidity) of 3rd party trading sites