The return on powered up HIVE is around 10-11% (3% staking rewards + 7-8% curation rewards), so it's definetely appealing.

with the aim of converting to HBD when (if) Hive appreciates

As always, I like your idea... and you made me change my mind ahahah 🤣 I'll convert DEC to HIVE, and wait for a better moment to convert HIVE to HBD.

The only aspect I still have to consider is if I want to power up that HIVE or keep it liquid: because I don't want to start a power down on my main account, but if I power up HIVE on a different one, then powering it down when I'm going to need it would require ages... so I have to choose wisely and see if I can find a solution to this particular problem.