Your view point is the reverse. I see it that the devs wanted both f2p players who don't spend money on the game and players who do spend money on the game to benefit from this as long as it is a good enough rate that one person feels like they're getting enough zen and the other person feels like they get enough dilithium. With a 500 dil cap I'd think a good number would be 250, since that's half of the cap.
I didn't accidentally mentioned PR. It's exactly what that blog post was. Representing a secondary function as a main one, because it will look good in the eyes of potential players. And will in the end serve for game's promotion as truly f2p.
But, in the end, in the in-game currencies design monetization always comes first.
Also the implementation of dilithium exchange maintains "the balance of dilithium grind" - while zen-sellers bypass the dilithium grind with real money, someone else does that grinding for them, engaging in farming activities this person otherwise wouldn't. Thus "the lack" of grind from zen sellers is compensated by the others - so that "the amount of grind" for dilithium in the game remains the same.
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But, in the end, in the in-game currencies design monetization always comes first.
Also the implementation of dilithium exchange maintains "the balance of dilithium grind" - while zen-sellers bypass the dilithium grind with real money, someone else does that grinding for them, engaging in farming activities this person otherwise wouldn't. Thus "the lack" of grind from zen sellers is compensated by the others - so that "the amount of grind" for dilithium in the game remains the same.