The majority stakeholders on hive that partifcipate on governance have decided of their own free will to follow a course of action in response to the market conditions of hbd. If that is not a free market then I don't know what to say.
You are correct, and I am stating as a marginal stakeholder that I dislike the optics this action creates.
What you see as price "manipulation" I see as a rational response to the overvaluation of hbd. If market participants can't respond to price fluctuations then who can? In my book hive stakeholders are legitimate market participants.
This is still technically price manipulation explained euphemistically is it not? And what of the rational response of an observer on the outside looking at these activities? Do they lend more or less legitimacy to the long-term prospects of HIVE? I'd imagine we are on opposite sides of that argument.
When it comes to HBD being overvalued I do see price manipulation...from traders on Upbit. It almost looks like a textbook pump and dump. It's a small cap coin with historically low liquidity that has a set value of ~1.00 USD (under normal market conditions).
I do agree that the fact that we have to use unorthodox solutions to counteract the market manipulation is a clear sign that the mechanics of HBD are broken. Fortunately the solution is in the works for the next hardfork.
It's more like that we can. We don't have to, we could decline. But it is an opportunity that benefits us, so we take advantage.