Well, there are two answers to that.
First of all, if everyone who needs RCs is just going to purchase Hive, then the price skyrockets, everyone is happy. Of course, there must be enough accounts for that to be true.
On the other hand, if a business uses custom jsons, like Splinterlands, they might be making money in tons of different ways. For instance, they can sell card packs, potions, etc for fiat money. This is what is happening on Splinterlands, they are making money through outside money. Consumers use their fiat.
So, how does this benefit the Hive ecosystem? Well, the users of the Splinterlands Dapp are consuming RCs. They need Hive Power to play the game. So either they will buy Hive (and the price will go up, coins will be taken out of circulation) OR Splinterlands will buy Hive, power up and delegate to their new users OR Splinterlands will need to lease RCs from someone else to delegate them to new users.
All those scenarios are bullish, provided there is enough activity on Hive which consumes RCs.
So, this is the model:
1- Have great Dapps that are fun to use, which utilize the properties of the Hive blockchain in some way, hence consuming RCs.
2- As the user base grows for each Dapp, RCs will get more scarce.
3- As Dapps need more RCs then they have powered up, they will start leasing it from other holders.
4- Demand increases again, as even more users want to use the blockchain.
5- Bidding war happens for Hive. Only the most profitable Dapps will be able to afford to lease RCs at higher rates or to buy Hive off the market.
6- Investors end up leasing at a very high rate or sell at a very high price, the loop is closed.
This example used Splinterlands but I could use an SMT instead. Transferring an SMT requires RC, upvoting with an SMT requires RC. Creating an account in a community with an SMT requires RC. There will always be more demand as long as the activity on the chain is growing.
This brings the question, at what point does the bidding war on RCs start? It depends on how much Hive can scale. If Hive is extremely scalable, and can easily handle billions of people being active, then RCs will always be very cheap, and this model does not make sense.
However, Hive does not scale that well. We'll get to a point where we've reached the blockchain's maximum capacity and this is when only those that are willing to pay the most for RCs will be able to use the chain.
The most profitable Dapps will keep paying for the market rate to lease RCs, while the Dapps who can't afford the rates will be limited by the amount they own.
In some ways that just sounds like profiteering until the majority goes out of business.
A good balance will be found. It is bound to happen as Hive can't scale infinitely. What's wrong with profits? I'm investing to get a return. If you invest for the upvotes then you are using one of the services the chain can offer.
Didn't say there was anything wrong with profits. It's when those profiteering end up doing more harm than good we run into problems.