I long had this nagging thought that told me, its time to lock up some earnings/rewards in a stable token. I am happy to report that I started that Journey. But which one, there are a handful to choose from. The choice was clear, HBD. Despite being on the HIVE Blockchain since its creation and on a similar one before then I haven't dug deep into the consideration of hoarding HBD. This all changed when the HBD APR was increased to 20% sometime ago. The increase in APR gave me pause to think, should I invest in HBD? To answer that question I would need to dig a little deeper into the token. First what does HBD stand for (that was an easy one), Hive Back Dollars. Second how do I earn the 20% APR, do I simply hold the token (Insert Nope Gif Here). In order to qualify for the 20% APR one must lock their HBD tokens using the Hive Wallets "Savings" feature. Naturally my next question was, how long does it take to unlock my HBD and turn it back to liquid funds? The answer: Three Days; I have to be honest here upon discovering this way back when, I was shocked at the quick "unstake" time. In fact for anyone that holds any significant amount of HBD the unstaking period is so short that I think it would be foolish to not utilize this feature for the 20% gains. There's only so much liquid a person needs.
The Risks
Any investment comes with risks regardless of if its in the brick and mortar world or the internet world. Add cryptocurrency in the mix and that risk factor increases. However its my opinion that investing in HBD isn't any riskier than investing in any other established token. In fact with my limited knowledge of stable tokens, HBD is the one I'm most comfortable holding in my profile for any significant amount of time. That being said, there are no guarantees in life. HBD being forever at or near the $1.00 USD mark is no exception to that. Always follow the simple formula of never investing what one can't afford to lose and regardless of the outcome you'll be alright!
Lets Get Started
As with any investment I'm about to make I first need to decide how I want to invest and how much do I want to invest. What is the end goal? (1) Do I just dive in head first and try to turn some thousands worth of Fiat into HBD for the 20% APR earnings (good luck finding that percentage at your local bank)? (2) Do I continue on my HIVE Journey using the assets I already have at my disposal? For now I will choose the latter, choice (2). That is not to say I won't ever invest Fiat in HBD (I might just do that) but considering the amount of assets I already hold on the Hive Blockchain I should put the thought of injecting Fiat into any current investment strategy on hold for the time being. This brings me to my most recent actions. Over the past week or two I been slowly putting small amounts of HBD in my Hive Wallets Savings section and I'm about to hit my first goal. That goal was simple enough, place 100 HBD into my Savings. Here in real time I'm about to do just that.
With my first goal hit rather quickly due to the small amount of HBD needed to achieve it, I now need a new goal. Should I go big (absolutely) but lets set small attainable goals instead of one big one. Our next intermediate goal will be to hoard 250 HBD in our savings account. Upon reaching the 250 goal I will re-evaluate and set a new goal. What is 
(1) HOW DO HIVE BACKED DOLLARS (HBD) WORK?
Hive Backed Dollars (hereinafter "HBD") are decentralized stablecoins pegged to the United States Dollar (generally 1 HBD = $1 USD). HBD is one of the native tokens existing on the Hive blockchain.
While the HBD is pegged to the United States Dollar, it is not backed by that fiat currency and the use of the USD is merely a valuation mechanism for the token. The HBD is backed by $1 worth of the Hive token. "The actually (sic) backing is the code on the blockchain that converts HBD to Hive. Thus, we have a stablecoin that is convertible into Hive yet is really backed by the code on the blockchain."
The above quote is taken from a post created on the date of Oct. 22, 2021 by Kevinnag58. It will give you a basic idea on how HBD works and how it sustains its peg to the USD. To read the quoted post in full click the following highlighted link: [How do Hive Backed Dollars (HBD) work? Including The HBD Stabilizer, The HBD Debt Limit, and The Haircut Rule.
(2) How Is HBD Printed?
Author rewards:
When a user creates a post or comment on Hive, they can potentially earn rewards in the form of $HIVE & $HBD. The amt. of rewards earned depends on several factors, including the # of upvotes (& their weight) received from other users & the hive's price.
Conversions:
Blockchain has an internal mechanism to convert $HIVE into $HBD by using $HIVE as collateral. Similar to MakerDAO and $DAI. It happens in 3.5 days & a median price is used for conversion.
Interest:
You get 20% APR for staking $HBD into your Hive Wallet with a 3-day unlocking period. Since staking is done on chain, you always hold the keys to your funds. This is an added inflation to the existing ones. The top 20 Hive Witnesses chosen by decentralized stake-based voting, can set this percentage and they can change in case the circulating supply of HBD increases unexpectedly. It can be set to ZERO as well.
DHF Payouts:
DHF is a Decentralized Hive Fund, a DAO owned by the Hive community. Funds are consumed based on decentralized voting on proposals that helps in the development of the Hive Network. The funds paid by DHF are in $HBD.
Conclusion:
With all that is going on with and on the HIVE Blockchain its easy to overlook HBD. We have Splinterlands and its ongoing march setting the standard for Play2Earn gaming. We have a multitude of new games/companies/individuals on the verge of slicing their own little piece of paradise within the Hive community. We have the blockchains main token HIVE and the endless amount of second layer tokens and much more. So if you didn't give much thought to HBD or the APR/ Security it could bring you its absolutely understandable as to why. But now that you read this you have the information at your fingertips. What you do with that information is a story only you can tell. Thanks for reading, if you enjoyed this post and would like to read my future content don't forget to smash that follow button. This will allow my created content to go in your feed making it easier for you to find and enjoy. That's it for now, have yourselves a great day!
Hive Wallet URL:
(HBD/HBD Savings/Hive Balance)
https://wallet.hive.blog/
(Delegations/Keys and more )
