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Regular people would go to a bank in a heartbeat instead.

But, of course! We would not be doing this for 'regular people'.

My guess is that less than a handful of existing Hivers have ever invested directly in a bond instrument like the ones @taskmaster4450 and I and others have been discussing recently.

This is not for the 'average person'. This is for accredited investors (i.e. investors who are accustomed to investing hundreds of thousands of dollars at a time).

I want to say that I agree with a time lock mechanism for a higher APR (basically, like the CDs that banks offer), and bonds that give access to the locked liquidity before maturity, but the way you parametrized the TVL, while I like the idea, is not easy to grasp. And if it's built for a couple of people, is it worth building it?

This would not be built for a couple of people. It would be built to attract many millions of dollars in investment capital, perhaps hundreds of millions.