A 20% APR on a token that is sitting at major lows is not much of a incentive. There needs to be a promise of onboarding and monetary inflows for that to be realized. The fact is, active user numbers have been stagnate for years and that's what matters.
How many whales have signed up for the 20% HBD passive earnings? Not many if any. Since the beginning users have been talking about potential, but haven't been able to make those positives talking become a reality. Hearing the dream over and over is getting lame. No one likes a broken record.
It's getting old hearing about all the potential, while the numbers that matter remain the same. Really, what has changed is that the users from richer nations have decreased over the years, while the users from poorer countries have increased. This is not a positive...
Truth be told, the staking for power creating an Oligarchy is a huge problem and is a big factor in keeping the platform from major adoption. If it's pay to play and those with the biggest purses have the majority of the power, Hive doesn't seem like a better alternative to much. In reality, it just reminds many of the corrupt systems currently in place that hold us down.
The latter points are what need to change, because the continual building of new options that mimic the mainstream ones are not working. On top of this, as more central authorities crack down, because crypto is a threat to the power fiat gives them, we need better and more decentralized exchanges that allow us to cash out easier with fewer middlemen.
As long as turning Hive or HBD into fiat is a multi-step process, the tokens themselves aren't as enticing to earn, because it's easier to redeem your grocery store points than use Hive or HBD in the real world where it matters.
I think you all are looking in the wrong places to help us grow and that has been proven with the stagnate numbers through all the updates and new options added over the years. It's too much work to get your foot in the door here, because it's about building relationships more than adding value to the platform and finding your way into a (voting)circle rather than creating quality content.
Youtube is remaining strong, because it's a store of knowledge for people to use to increase their knowledge and skills and we need more of that here. Pictures of a giant garden, instead of detailed blogs about how to achieve that garden yourself is not going to bring users to Hive. We need to be where people come for useful info, not just pretty pictures, a place to buy power nor where equal say is nonexistent.
Hive really doesn't offer anything new. It just offers the worst part of how Central Authorities function. We need to offer something new and fresh to fight these failed and unsavory features that keep us from becoming a healthy and decentralized society. Throwing around the word 'decentralization' is hollow when the main feature creates centralization.