Checking my wallet this morning I now see that the HBD interest rate is now 5%! After reading @smooth 's proposal and explanations why I did think how long it would be before other witnesses caught up and changed it, and now a bit of consensus has occured as show below!
One point that was made that I feel was really important being this;
Although we can't know for sure, it is likely that some of the demand for HBD is now coming from people who desire a reasonable rate of interest and price stability, rather than unstable "pumping" (this further helps stabilize HBD because such holders are more likely sell if HBD substantially appreciates, and then reenter back near $1).
I have always been a bit baffled at why HBD seems to pump well beyond a "reasonable" price and it seems like this could be a serious contender. HBD is a good coin to be in regardless due to the fact that it is technically #difficult for it to drop below $1 making it a good hedge, which I imagine is one of the reasons why it ever does exceed $1 , as well as what others have mentioned on here like low circulating trading volume etc.
The upcoming hard fork will focus the HBD interest function onto "savings", making HBD interest into a form of staking reward.
This is very important and again takes pressure off HBD selling therefore helping to maintain the peg, ASWELL as the 3 day withdrawal period makes actually keeping that sweet peg all the more feasible.
The more demand for HBD we can attract, the more HIVE can be removed from circulation, and the more exposure we can bring to the entire Hive ecosystem.
Very important point, and as said the DAO has worked beautifully to this effect, with alot of thanks to @smooth 's work on the @hbdstabilizer protocol and anything that aims to further take HIVE off exchanges or transmute HBD buying into HIVE buying is a brilliant thing to happen in my book.
As a interesting side note, my main fiat currency is GBP (£), now transferring it into USD I may lose 0.1% using a interbank provider like Revolut but even still the best interest rate accesible to me in this moment in time is around 4% (I believe and even then it would be difficult to open with multiple barriers to entry, proof of income and large income must come in otherwise the % rate is sanctioned)
Essentially even attempting to convert back and forth between USD and GBP the highest rate I could acheive is a mere 4%, meaning that HBD savings is now giving out more interest than all UK banks combined! It is just facts like these that as smooth said make HIVE an even more attractive place to people than it is already, and I don't need to tell you all the good things about this chain as I'm sure you already do, but it is things like this that will make others outside the chain believe in it as much as we do.