Isn't high risk, high (potential) reward basically the description of crypto in general? Either you believe in the future of hive or you don't. I don't think 20% for HBD is necessarily sustainable forever but I just don't really see a reason to change it now. It's also your choice whether you keep your hive powered up or not. If you don't want that opportunity cost, don't power up. I also wouldn't be opposed to lowering the power down time (but not too much).

Whataboutism about crypto volatility should not inhibit us from being able to determine which of the assets is more or less risky, and thus which should be comparatively higher in risk adjusted returns.

I would think there are a lot of things that affect these things besides the HBD interest rate. For as long as the HBD interest rate is high, there is the opportunity to attract more users and increase demand for hive as well. Once HBD interest rate drops, that opportunity goes away. Saying it hasn't worked yet isn't the same as saying it won't or can't work.

These are mercenary "users" who aside from bringing money (people who buy HP also bring money) don't do anything else, and are only here to get paid. People who buy Hive and then sell it for HBD is absolutely still buying into Hive, but the part which does not make sense is to reward people that much for comparatively (and by this I mean with respect to HP) - this absolutely makes a difference on the perception of incentives.

I do think HBD interest rate should drop before hitting the debt limit to avoid the haircut rule kicking in. But I think now is too soon and 12% is too big of a drop all at once.

If we can raise it by the same margin in a matter of days, then we can also lower it. Nobody is suggesting that we remove interest on it altogether, if it went to 12%, it would at the very least appease people who invested in HP pre-HBD@20