Dear Hivers,
Over the last 3 days, I have been spying like an amateur detective trying to solve a case. It is an adventure I invite you to join.
Here’s the situation:
If you visit your profile — or anyone you know — and look at the recent payouts (within 7 days):
You can see 0 HBD.
No one is receiving these HBDs (Hive Dollars). The rewards, in fact, are currently split into Hive and Hive Power (HP).
It doesn't matter if you choose a 50/50 payout. You still won't be earning Hive Dollars. For now.
Interesting, isn't it?
I have read dozens of articles — digging into our dark past — our old platform — and nudging a couple of people to get closer to the truth.
I think I have found the answer.
In fact, to understand this, we have to take a step back and explore the basic concepts.
Why?
I mean:
Imagine one of us walking into a room with 1000s of people looking at us? They are all cheering for... us to talk about Hive.
As we are on a blockchain platform, knowing how a portion of it works — and why it works — will be tremendously useful.
With that said:
First, we have to explore the relationship between Hive and HBD.
Even today, Hive points to the Steem whitepaper:
This means:
The Hive/HBD model draws inspiration from Steem/SBD.
Based on this, here are two things you should know:
A rapid change in the value of Hive can dramatically change the debt-to-ownership ratio.
Second:
If a token is viewed as ownership in the whole supply of tokens, then a token-convertible-dollar can be viewed as debt.
To put it simply:
In other words:
1 HBD is a token convertible for 1 USD worth of Hive.
Let’s take an example:
Imagine:
- 100 HBD
- 100 Hive
- 1 Hive price = $10
So what can we buy from 1 USD?
Answer: 0.1 Hive.
(Simple calculation, right?)
This means:
Our 100 HBD converts into 10 Hive.
(Very important)
And finally, this means:
Our debt-to-ownership ratio is 10/100 = 10%.
Still with me?
Great.
Now here's something else to remember:
The amount of Hive Dollars produced is reduced when the debt ratio increases.
This debt ratio is the reason, you see?
Maybe if you saw some people talking about Hive and HBD's secret relationship... this is what they wanted to say.
The bottomline: The debt-to-ownership ratio matters.
It is what decides everything.
Currently, no new Hive Dollars are printed because of this debt-to-ownership ratio.
The question is:
What is the current ratio?
Let's take the current stats shared by @Penguinpablo.
We pay attention to 3 key numbers:
So the marketcap of Hive supply:
HBD as percentage of Hive marketcap:
The debt-to-ownership ratio is 10.02%.
Really, with this math, all you have to know is the last line:
The ratio is slightly above 10%.
And anytime the ratio is above 10%?
The HBD rewards are replaced by Hive. And no new HBD will be printed.
So as long as the percentage doesn’t drop below 10%, we will never have new HBDs generated.
And... that's it.
Case closed.
Cheers,
Sid
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Thanks @Deathwing 
