Points are the reward layer that sits on top of Ecency. You earn them for showing up and taking part and you spend them on things that push your work further. For that loop to keep working, what goes into it and what comes out of it have to stay roughly in balance. This post explains one change we are making now and one we are giving you advance notice of.
If you delegate Hive Power to Ecency, you have been earning Points for it every day, automatically, whether or not you ever opened the app.
From now on, delegation rewards accrue while you are active on Ecency. If an account goes 90 days without any activity, its delegation Points reward pause. The moment that account is active again, rewards start accruing again from that day.
Anything you actually do:
opening the app, which files your daily check-in
publishing a post or a comment
voting or reblogging
posting a wave
spending or claiming Points
That is a low bar on purpose. A single visit inside a 90 day window is enough. If you use Ecency at all, even occasionally, nothing about your rewards changes.
What does not count is a reward landing in your account on its own. Delegation rewards, referral rewards and community rewards all arrive without you doing anything, so they cannot be the thing that proves you are still here.
This is worth saying plainly, because it is the question everyone asks first.
Nothing you have already earned is affected. Every Point sitting in your account stays there, claimable, for as long as it takes you to come back and claim it. The change only affects whether new delegation rewards keep accruing while an account sits idle. It does not reach backward.
If you delegated years ago, drifted away and never claimed, your balance is exactly where you left it.
Points are capped at 1 billion. That cap has been part of the design since the beginning and it only means something if issuance stays connected to real use of the product.
Delegation rewards had drifted away from that. They were the largest single source of new Points and a large share of them were flowing to accounts that had not opened Ecency in a long time. Points were being created for participation that was not happening. That is not sustainable for anyone holding Points, because every Point minted for nothing dilutes the ones earned for something.
Tying the reward to activity fixes that at the source. It also means we are not taking anything away from anyone to do it.
Delegating Hive Power to Ecency still matters and we are grateful for it. It supports the free account signups, the curation trail and the resource credits that keep the apps usable for everyone. If you delegate and you use Ecency, your rewards continue exactly as before.
The second thing is not live yet and we are telling you early on purpose.
We are considering a rule where Points that sit unclaimed for 90 days expire. Claiming is a single tap in the app and Points are meant to circulate, not to sit in a pending balance indefinitely. A large amount of Points is currently parked unclaimed, some of it for years.
This will go into effect from tomorrow, if you have been active and claiming pending point rewards, you won't notice any changes.
The practical advice in the meantime costs you nothing: open the app and claim your Points. If you have a pending balance, claim it now and the question never applies to you.
Points you earn from posting, commenting, voting, reblogging and checking in: unchanged.
Reward amounts for delegation: unchanged. The rate is the same, it is the accrual that now depends on activity.
Liquid HIVE curation 100% return: unchanged.
Your ability to claim, transfer or spend anything already in your balance: unchanged.
The 1 billion cap: unchanged and this is part of making it hold.
If you delegate to Ecency, just keep using it. One visit every few months clears the bar comfortably.
If you have not opened Ecency in a while, now is a good time. Check your Points balance at ecency.com/perks/points, claim whatever is pending and have a look at what the Points economy can do for your posts.
Questions about how this affects your account are welcome in the comments and we will answer them.
Your blog, your keys.
