Hive Stake Based Income
Last year I wrote a post summarizing HSBI, what it is, what it does, and how to use it. That post is still entirely accurate, so go read it.
@freecompliments also recently wrote a great post on the matter. He goes into the inner workings much more than my post at the top did, so if you are curious about the details then his post is very recommended reading.
I've been participating in HSBI since the Steemit days. I want to say I joined the program as soon as @josephsavage started it way back when, but it might have taken me a while before I noticed the program.
It's not a program to invest in if you want to get rich fast. In his post, Freecompliments comes up with an APR of around 12.2%. That's pretty close to what I get from tracking my votes from the service: I show 14.562% since the very beginning and 14.449% from the last 6 months. An amazing rate when compared to a US savings account (astronomically amazing when compared to my Japanese savings account, which only gives an interest of less than 0.1%), but around average or even less when compared to some of the other offerings in the crypto space.
Be Kind
What attracted me to HSBI and what still attracts me to HSBI is the kindness aspect. In order to benefit from HSBI, you have to sponsor someone or someone has to sponsor you. Yes of course there are ways to game this system and I'm sure some people do, but the majority are going to run up against this central tenet of the system: the creation of the asset is not derived from taking but from giving. I love that.
Everyone wants money. I'm sure people will argue about the motives of people, but I always go under the assumption that people are basically good, but that the fear of not being able to survive throws a wrench into our goodwill, making us all greedy to some extent, as we chase after money in an attempt to alleviate this fear of not being able to survive. HSBI brilliantly turns this greediness on its head and uses it to make an act of kindness. You want some HSBI? Then spread joy and give some away to others. To me this is the greatest fact of the program, that it promotes kindness. This is Joseph's greatest success of the project, that he has figured out how to encourage kindness, perhaps by appealing to or leveraging greed.
This alone is why I love HSBI and why I am constantly trying to promote it by giving it away to people.
A Benefit to Hive
One other thing about HSBI I want to discuss.
In the early days of the project, many orcas and whales came out against it and started downvoting posts that benefitted from it. I know some today still hold this negative view, though the downvoting of the past is no longer with us.
I never really understood the reasoning behind this, as I see HSBI as a tremendous investment in Hive. The main argument as I remember it and still see it is that HSBI is considered vote buying, which was long ago deemed verboten on Hive (though some, like @silverstackeruk, disagree with that idea). If someone were to solely buy HSBI for themselves, I might understand that argument, but, as mentioned above, it’s as much about giving as it is about receiving.
Also, investing in HSBI is a huge investment in Hive itself. True it isn't directly buying and staking HIVE, which is what many of the larger investors are looking for, but it is committing to Hive nonetheless. In order to get those HSBI votes, you must post. Yes, some will shitpost. As I said above, some percentage of people will always seek to game the system, but these shitposts tend to be downvoted anyways for reasons other than HSBI, so it doesn’t really provide any benefit to these people. The majority, at any rate, will write regular blog posts which is exactly what those of us invested in Hive should want to see. Hive is a blogging platform: we want to see it being used that way. The HSBI upvote will encourage them to stay and write more by rewarding them. It will therefore, keep them active on Hive. This is win-win.
Anyway, like I said, I think the kindness angle of HSBI is the greatest part of it and is why I am such a huge proponent of it, but the Hive investment and beneficial aspect is definitely an important part.
And, if you've made it this far, all good comments that show they actually read what I wrote will get some amount of HSBI from me. Have at it :)
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David is an American teacher and translator lost in Japan, trying to capture the beauty of this country one photo at a time and searching for the perfect haiku. He blogs here and at laspina.org. Write him on Mastodon. |
