Hello Hive ❤️
In this extra-long and candid episode we welcomed back @Starkerz, one of the most experienced builders on Hive. We dove deep into his journey from mechanical engineering and oil & gas project management into #Bitcoin, then Steem -> Hive, and eventually co-founding @threespeak together with @teycallmedan.
The conversation covered why Hive remains special (no ICO, no pre-mine, no CEO, true parallel economy potential when combined with Bitcoin + Monero + HBD), the birth and rocky road of #3speak, recent frontend/backend improvements that finally brought upload speed and reliability back, and exciting upcoming tech like client-side encrypted messaging, one-click website archiving to Hive, contactless HBD airdrops via phones, and easy onboarding features.
A big part of the talk focused on Hive's current challenges: persistently high #inflation (9–12%+ instead of the scheduled ~5%), massive DHF spending (especially via ValuePlan), questionable proposals (rally cars, boreholes, large recurring budgets with unclear ROI), and the resulting constant sell pressure dragging the price down faster than the broader market.
@Starkerz argued for temporary belt-tightening: reduce DHF outflows, ask big proposals to enter maintenance mode, cut ValuePlan to sustainable levels (~$40k/month), add more accountability (reports, milestones, possibly downvotes or spending caps on DHF), lower HPD/Hive APR rewards, and redirect funds toward measurable digital marketing, new-user retention, and showcasing Hive's real utility.
We ended on a hopeful note highlighting talented people still grinding (@Meno, @Eddiespino, @kesolink, @Tibfox, @mantequilla-soft), revolutionary tools already live or coming soon, and the belief that fixing the economy first can create the conditions for price recovery, better onboarding, and long-term growth.
A raw, sometimes controversial, but very human discussion about what Hive is, what it could be, and what needs to change to get there.
▶️ 3Speak
Economies are built on exchanging value. One of the problems HIVE has right now is some users are receiving more value than they provide. During the last Hive Thrive show, @starkerz went through a list of DHF proposals that are receiving funding without much accountability. There's another aspect that isn't being talked about right now is the rewards pool. 65% of newly minted HIVE goes to creators/curators and, again, some are receiving more value than they provide and some have found ways to abuse that system and treat it like a faucet.
Right now, I'm taking two actions to deal with these issues:
Same here, we unsuported all the projects and are suporting Mantequilla's proposal and Ecency. Ecency, cause it is 100% Open Source and built by the community for the community.
Overal we need changes. It is good to talk about the problems we are all facing and we just need some kind of middle ground and some kind of start, no matter how small it is.
There you go, guys... You got one FULL VIEW on YT, for the whole 2.5 hours of watching... 😃
Great show and great talk with @starkerz! We need more places like this to talk, to spread the word, to give more exposure to different opinions, and to debate more... My Wednesdays got fucked completely, and I didn't do the #HHHLive show for a while... I hope I will find a way to do it at some other time, as it's important to create spaces as you did!
HIVE is still a great blockchain and awesome tech... But, you are right, there are some weeds that should be taken out, the house needs cleaning, and the budget has to be adjusted... Hopefully, there will be more people to step out and to start thinking and reasoning... HBD and HIVE are ours, and not just by a couple of people... We can't afford to copy the system from which we escaped!
Keep doing what you are doing, guys! 💪
Would you have certain things that you would say we lack on Dapp side?
Hopefully, Magi will bring some dev. power and we will see some good DeFi projects on HIVE... I know that we are a social network, but bringing money to HIVE could help a lot + those apps wouldn't ask for money, as they WILL create money for liquidity providers, and make conversions easier for others...
Besides that, having some self-sustainable games that could burn HIVE tokens would also be nice to see... If we had 10 games as Splinterlands (or better), we wouldn't be where we are...
All in all... We don't need a lot... 1 killer dapp that would showcase that being self-sustainable on HIVE is possible, would be enough to motivate and incentivize other devs to have that kind of view... Until devs look at DHF as a "safe milking cow", we will not see better days... Plus, DHF can also be a "demotivator", especially for competition that would like to create apps similar to those that are already financed through DHF...
We agree 100% that DHF spending has gone through the roof. Maybe they planned a different outcome, a more possitive one, but so far all of the spending has not done too much good for Hive. Yes, in Venezuela and other South American countries Hive is known, but Marketing in a Country where people are hungry for money shouldn't be that hard when we are giving away so mutch. Overall, DHF Spending has to change not only in numbers but the criteria for DHF funding should be more difficult. Maybe payout by milestones, Payment as a loan...in a way where a project should become selfsustainable.
We need to keep on talking about this, but also come to some sort of agreement...find a middleground and do changes and not only talk all the time without any real progress.
Hey guys! I watched the whole thing, and it was an amazing show.
As @starkerz, it's tough; we are in a difficult situation, but personally, I am not giving up. Of course, I need to find a job, but I am confident that with the skills that I've gathered over the last few years, I can find good opportunities. I am so grateful with Hive.
Talking about @valueplan, I think that the original idea was good, but it got out of hand. And that it should stop, or it needs to be redesigned and take into consideration more input from the community. And of course, stop funding projects that have no clear results. This also applies to DHF proposals.
And I would love to be on the show one day with the @mantequilla-soft guys!
I'll try to be more involved with @hive-echo, at least with ideas. We can push some content on Facebook and Instagram. Let's have a call about that when you can.
Let's talk and plan when we can all sit down and have a good conversation during the Podcast. We are here to listen, to debate, to have real conversations without Timing members Out 😁
We are here to make the change
I've put this on my "watch tonight" list....
But it's good to see an awareness of the need to tighten our belts to help stabilise HIVE's price. My own personal feeling is still that the DHF should change from a grant-giver to a loan provider with actual grants only available for core coding. It would force proposals to pay more attention to their financials (and what investment/income streams their proposals deliver) and reduce the drain on market cap from DHF payouts, but I appreciate it's probably too big a step for most people.
Well that's awesome! We appreciate taking the time to watch the longest Podcast we have ever done 😁 Most of us agree, that there have to be some sort of changes, but that we still need to find the right one. That is why debating is good and talking about it is important. We all have our voices in our Decentralized Hive, or is it really so Decentralized? 😁
Being the sad person I am, I'm sitting down to watch this as promised 😁 I'm only halfway through, and feel like I want to jump in and join the conversation !
I'm certainly with you on the way we're spending through Valueplan. Hive isn't big enough to afford random branding exercises with no accountability on the return, so I'd love to see the spend reduced to control inflation and entirely focused on measurable marketing channels (Google ads, X ads, etc).
Perhaps the DHF should have a monthly budget, and proposals that are successfully voted are allocated a % of available funds rather than anything they ask for.
On HBD interest.... yep, you've changed my understanding of it and my mind. So my thought now is the interest should be reduced, but in gentle steps over a period of time to avoid freaking people out or losing users. But once it's down to a sustainable level, how about any increases are in capped bands, e.g. 5% up to 100 HBD, 4% for 100-500 etc. Although we'd need to monitor for duplicate accounts somehow.
I've also got an idea on growth/marketing (where the cost gets recouped), but I'll probably do that as a separate post.
Okay, now to go watch the rest of the Podcast...... some might be tomorrow, it's nearly midnight.....
Like the input!
Thank you for the shout-out!
🎉🎉🥳 Congratulations 🥳🎊🎊
Your post has just been curated and upvoted by @Ecency , keep up the good work !
perseverance and patience
Very good!!!🤗
Im canot anything upload
thank you guys for the love...
Listened to the whole thing. Yes something needs to be done to turn this ship around. Yes Starkerz is the right guy to spearhead this turnaround. One minor critique, host on the right side needs to speak more directly into the microphone, hard to understand at times. Thanks a lot guys!
Watched the whole thing on 3Speak. I met @starkerz at Hive Fest and had a good chat about HBD interest rates, which changed my perspective.
By the way, is @valueplan still being funded? I had a look at the active proposals on PeakD and there is no "active" valueplan proposal. Does that mean funding stopped at the end of Q4 2025 when the previous (active) proposal expired?
!ALIVE
!BBH
By the way guys, just about where (one example) you can check those staked values...
hive.io website has it...
You need to give Starkerz a mechanical body like the robo sheldon.
Hahahaha 🤣 That's a really good idea!!
Great 👍
We need Dan @theycallmedan on the podcast; he has some great ideas too.
We will get Dan on the Podcast one day 😉