Thinking out loud here. Might not have all details correct.
Hive is inflationary, emissions happen continuously, thus increasing the supply.
The DHF is funded by Hive inflation, it is using Hive to create HBD, turning Hive inflation into HBD, this HBD is paid to support projects.
As long as the HBD payed out is not converted back into Hive at some point, then DHF pay-outs serve to reduce an element of Hive inflation.
How are projects realising the value from their HBD ?, they obviously have real world bills to pay with fiat, so do the swap on HE into , say swap.LTC or swap.BTC and then out into Fiat, or can they exchange HBD via any other route.
So to the extent that not all the HBD payed out by the DHF will not immediately turn into Hive, is it fair to say the the DHF system buffers Hive inflation somewhat ?
Yes. Projects sell HBD for fiat or whatever needed to pay the bills. Yes, it adds to inflation.