It sounds like a radical idea, but hear me out. We’re here on HIVE and most of us are aware of the potential for Crypto to solve a lot of our Financial System Problems. Many are also aware of the problems with Fiat Currency and how Inflation and Currency Debasement is destroying our purchasing power. We have our own Stablecoin here, called the Hive Backed Dollar...yet it’s pegged to the US Dollar which is inevitably going to lose it’s Reserve Currency Status in our lifetimes...and maybe even quite soon.
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So what should we do? Should we just have our Stablecoin ride the USD into nothingness or should we at some point look to peg our Stablecoin to something else that might hold it’s value better? Well, Precious Metals have stood the test of time with regards to being a store of value long term, so why not peg our Stablecoin to Silver or Gold? If that’s the way the USD is going to go then why not do this sooner rather than later so we can get ahead of the curve?
I first suggested almost 7 years ago that Instead of STEEM DOLLARS how about STEEM GOLD? and if you want to take a trip down memory lane, that post is a decent read back when we were called the STEEM blockchain. The comments in particular are fun. Since I made that post, the Debt is worse, Inflation is worse and we now even have BRICS talking about creating a new currency backed by Gold as an alternative to the US Dollar. Is the writing on the wall getting clear enough yet?
Without getting too technical this would be a pretty easy change to make. Currently the Witnesses supply a feed price of HIVE vs the US Dollar so that the Conversions between HIVE and HBD stay correct. All you’d need to do is change that feed price to instead be HIVE vs 1 Gram of Silver. It’d otherwise be seamless. Silver has just reached a price of $1 US Dollar for 1 Gram of 999 Silver so a change right now to Re-Peg HBD to 1 Gram Silver would not cost a single holder of HBD a cent because the valuation would be right on par. It could be a straight swap and then going forward we’d have our Stablecoin pegged to a proper Monetary Metal instead of some shitty Fiat Currency which is inevitably headed to the dustbin of history.
It sounds like a radical idea, but is it really? At some point Crypto people are going to have to practice what they preach and kick the Fiat Currency link once and for all. Maybe I'll have to make another post in 7 years time to remind everyone that this idea has been on the cards for a long time...
IF not a Silver backed HBD then would a Precious Backed Dollar work?
Sure! If the dollar was backed by precious metals then I don't have a problem with the Hive Backed Dollar because it's monetary metal underneath.
I just think we have a long and bumpy road ahead before we get there.
That's amazing that a tiny gram of silver is $1.00. A coin smaller than a dime could represent a dollar today and a pocket sized coin could have an intrinsic value of $10, easy. We're at the point where a $10 coin could be useful, what's $10 anymore? Three or four grocery items?
Maybe 1 or 2 grocery items if you're lucky. A kilo of decent beef mince meat here is $20!
It’s not going to happen. The powers that be don’t believe in metals.
Oh, they believe in metals! And thats the whole point - they know its much harder to manipulate bullion based financial markets. If we still would use bullion based money, the US and a whole lot of other countries would be bancrupt since quite some time. And thats the reason why they hate metals and will never have it as part of their currencies. Because that would mean game over.
I think he's talking about the powers that be on HIVE. In other words - our witnesses.
They definitely don’t. The Hive big fish don’t get metals.
They will come around. Just would be nice to be ahead of the curve...for once.
I don’t see the witnesses here ever coming around on this. But I like it personally!
The challenge of precious metals throughout history has been storage. Pegging an optimum technology in a digital age defeats the purpose. In the near future I believe fiat currencies will be pegged to BTC. Most countries will advocate a CBDC of their own although the safe bet would be to hold a public blockchain token in your own wallet such as Bitcoin. Holding gold and silver may look nice but liquidity is impractical when trading with individuals and not at all possible with IOT devices.
Hive doesn't need to store the metals. As an algorithmic stablecoin HBD just needs to track the price.
It could be a great move, especially if silver continues to climb. It's not a radical idea at all!
The witnesses have no interest in it but we know a gram of silver over time will be worth way more than today! But the crowds here just aren’t interested.
I’d say we could start a separate project but I don’t think most stackers would be interested either given no metal would back it and only a protocol peg. But it’s interesting nonetheless
Exaclt. There should be HIVEGOLD, HIVESILVER, HIVEPLATINUM kinds of stable coins, that will be true stablecoin. Having a stable coin backed with USD or USDT has the same risk exposure as USD. So I think at some point crypto ecosystem should come out with such propositions. In fact they will need it down the line.
Hive is not "backed" with US$. A currency backed with something means there has to be a depot of something that guarantees the value of that currency. I very much doubt that such depot exists for Hive or HBD. That would require many millions, if not billions, to be a significant backing.
I hate to say it, but Hive is just as much a bag of hot air than other fiat currencies are.
True, HBD is not like USDT. I would agree that HBD is a protocol based stablecoin and not like USD backed USDT.
The issue is there won’t be interest on any big scale. People in metals want physical backing not a “peg” with no actual metals backing it. It would be like 20 of us. Not possible to hold pegs with no overall mass support or witness support. It’s fun thought though
Yes, the idea is good, but for its development and continuation it is necessary something
That's going to happen by 2030. In hindsight, all will realize.
Well, at the end it would just be a renaming, without any significance. You can call it Hive Gold or Hive Silver or Hive Oreo - it does not influence its value. Nor does it stabilize it, like in a bullion based currency.
The safest option is still to have real bullion. You wont get rich over night with it, but it always has its value in purchasing power. Just look where gold/silver prices are today - only 2 years ago most people didn't think it would be possible.
The significance is in a year or 2 when 1 gram of Silver is worth $2 and our HBD either holds that value or drops with the US Dollar.
Well, thats the thing - we usually look at it the wrong way. 1 gram of silver is not worth $1 now, its the other way around. That may sound silly, but it isn't. Because the real constant is silver, gold ect., not the dollar. Nor Hive or any other crypto, for that matter. As I said, those are fiat currencies: 1 Hive has not more intrinsic value than a BTC - and thats none. They only have value because people believe that they do. A pretty smart guy once said: trading cryptos is about finding a greater fool than you are yourself. :)
1 gram of metal, on the other hand, is still 1 gram of metal - in 2 years, or 20 or 2000 years. And it still has value. At least it was that way since the humans know it.
You sound like a fellow stacker. You should join our community discord HERE
Thanks for the offer, but I like to keep a low profile about that stuff. You never know who is listening.... ;)
Fair enough. That's why I use an alias. I don't think anyone in the SGS community knows my real name :)
Hi Matt 👋
🤣 just took a guess 🪙
What the heck! I haven’t seen u pop up in my feed in forever! I thought u dropped off. I see you have been posting! I’ll swing by more often!
Sounds like a great idea. As precious metals do hold their values.
The name of the new coin will be Hive Backed Silver ( HBS) . Very good suggestion
Stack on!