Over the years, one of my biggest values has always been "uniqueness", standing out and doing things differently, but over the years I've realized that being too exclusive or too unique cuts you out from what actually works, or what is proven to work, and this isn't just about me, I think it can also go for every other thing in life.
Fees on Hive (GAS)
A few years back there was a debate about ads on Hive, or whether or not the network should remain fee-less or "GASLESS" as a lot of us knows it, and the general consensus was that we should have Ads and the network should remain fee-less.
However, over the years a lot of things have changed. A lot of chains have launched, incorporated the Ads system we see in web2 while heavily adding network fees to their chain.
Now this network fees didn't just pay the DEVS, it actually generated funds to run the chain, and reduce internal expenditure.
Personally I think having network fees are one of the ways a chain can stay self funded, and before you even say something like "..but that's why we have the DHF" you should remember that there are individuals that have impoverished and milked the DHF for years, and Hive itself bears the brunch of that.
In reality I think at the moment we should be having HARDFORKS that are going to be tailored to make us ultra self sustaining.
I understand that Hive is already self sustaining and does a lot of that, but I think we should factor a lot of changes to the chain that will not just generate fees for the chain, but also lighten the burden on the DHF which eventually gives the chain some sort of relief.
Look at it this way, feed are everywhere, no matter the chain, network or systems, you're paying fees, and I don't think being FEELESS is a feature that sells a chain anymore in 2026, why? Because it's not something that anyone cares about.
For example, no one will care about paying 1 Hive to send out 1000 Hive, or a few 0.02 Hive to power up 100 Hive, it's nothing in the grand scheme of things because if these fees are accumulated, they can go back into buyback of the token or lighten the DHF to some extent, I talked about utilizing web2 monetization to drive some smaller earnings to the chain, but of course no one actually paid attention.
In reality, I think a lot of the Forks we already have doesn't do anything in the grand scheme of things. There's honestly no gain in trying to be exclusive when it comes to being FEELESS. people will ape into projects for the health of the price rather than the fees of the network, and this is what it means to have something like "....for the greater good".
Survive, adapt, Thrive
We have to understand and come to the reality that survival and longevity is by far, a bigger concern that exclusivity. When times are desperate (you do all it takes to stay afloat) personally I feel that the DHF itself should only function at a certain price point, for example if Hive price is below 20 cents, the DHF shouldn't work anymore, and if Hive price goes below 10 cents then HBD's APR should fall to like 3 or 5% APY.
and if at 5 cents, then 99% of proposals that can be fully automated with Claude should be cut off or not even allow to run, especially since the owners can go back and convince stakeholders to vote it.
These are flywheels that helps you stay in the game, and honestly I can't believe the witnesses are not even thinking about flywheels that help the chain survive when it hits a certain price point, but I guess it's what it is. Anyway, back to fees, I honestly think it's time for the first time we bring back network fees.
Imagine generating 100k Hive monthly from fees. Anyway maybe in paranoid, or perhaps I think we should be desperately creative when it comes to the chain, I honestly don't know.
However I know that when we begin to see changes or ideas like this surface, we're definitely going to get a lot of people excited again.
What do you think about the ideas of introducing network fees, and using these FEES to run the DHF, burning it, or using the fees as buy back?