It's the first day of the month, and that makes it Hive Power Up Day !
Also, Happy May Day, everyone ! 😁
Image created by AI in NightCafe Studio
I've done my bit this month, powering up 1000 of my liquid HIVE. I normally post a screenshot at this point, but something somewhere in Hive is playing up and neither PeakD or Ecency seem to be allowing me to upload new images.
My Thoughts on Hive For The Start of May
Well first off, I'm noticing an increasing loss of reliability among the front ends. My guess is that nodes are being switched off by people who just look at them as a way of making money, meaning that those left are having to work harder.
The low price of Hive is most definitely creating a period of introspection, and I believe that is a hugely beneficial thing in the long run. We are finally starting to have conversations around governance and the way the DHF funds projects. If we all look at the proposals that are presented, and ask probing questions about the business case and value for money, that can only be a good thing.
Additionally, I notice the interest rate on HBD has dropped to 12%. It's a drop from the 20% it was at for so long, but still about three times what you can get here in the UK from even the best-performing traditional bank savings account.
The report from 
But I actually think it's a good thing, even if I will miss the earned interest ! By doing this, it shows we want to get a handle on Hive's excessive inflation, which is one of the key drivers pushing the price down. But it also has a hidden benefit; it encourages people to actually use their HBD. Having a stable(ish) coin we can use for transactions with no transaction fees could be just the thing to gain wider adoption.
It's a bit of a hobby horse of mine to see HBD used for e-commerce payments, even if it's only the "middle man" used to keep fees down for people who want to pay in BTC. I haven't got the knowledge to code it myself, or the time to learn how, but I'd love to see it happen !