One of the biggest issues is the hive-engine node operation being so sluggish. Not entirely sure how to fix that, but I do know of a few solutions. Another one, is what I alluded to a bit and the community aspect of it all. I'd like to see a more unified Hive and more people that can relate to the 'normies' and noobs up in the top 20 vs nothing but developers that have a hard time communicating. Representing Hive is a privilege and I think all the little voices asking for help are going to get real loud.
Gaming, I sincerely believe what I'm building is going to change Hive. That's all I'll say on that for now.
Believe it or not, and whether I am given credit by any of the larger wallets, I was the one in a conversation that pushed for any kind of interest rate on HBD and made it a thing. I initially said it should reflect the APR on staked HP (roughly 3%) since other chains have a much higher PoS reward system in place and even exchanges now - dwarf that 3% for staked HP. How it got to 20%? I'm still kind of shocked and think that is too high but appealing nonetheless.
Being able to pinpoint problem areas is always the first step (which not everyone is always able to do). And those are indeed some problem areas. I especially like shifting the focus to the "normies". I massively respect the people come here, invest their time and don't power down because they want to do the grind, those I respect the most. When an account like that suddenly goes dark it feels like such a big loss.
The 20% is way too high in my opinion, and this is coming from someone that profited from it. It has about the same APR as someone that actively posts on Hive without having to do the effort or have to deal with the risk from price fluctuation. I definitely understand people that prefer to convert their Hive to HBD since you have to do less effort for approximately the same rewards. It Results in the opposite of what we want, people should be encouraged to engage with the blockchain. I think 3% would hit the sweet spot indeed.
The appealing argument is interesting, and I think it's true for people that are in the Hive ecosystem, but I'm not sure everyone agrees with that. I was in a discord call with some online friends two months ago and we where talking crypto (they aren't on Hive). And I told them that we have a stable coin with a 20% APR, I heard the word "scam" more than once after that. They actually thought it was dodgy rather than appealing. This shows that the perception towards high return promises in crypto has shifted immensely in the post-FTX era.
One call between 3 dudes talking nonsense in their free time is of course not an indicator for a wider audience. But it is that call that started to make me question the 20% APR
I've been in a few conversations that resemble the scam one you just mentioned and there were scratched heads wondering how it was sustainable. Not necessarily scammy, because there are some legitimate chains and tokens that have roughly the same APR. Cosmos (ATOM) has just under a 15% APR on staking (where I do it anyway) and it is vibrant. Can look at others here if you have time and want to see. You'll notice that HIVE and HBD isn't even on that list.