How many people here only bought HBAR because it had

6.5% apy? If you want high apy why didn't you buy ATOM or AVAX or DOT? Most top coins offer between 1-4% but people still buy those coins. Most investors in HBAR are here because of the technology and potential in adaption. GC members wouldn't want to be associated with a project that has no usecase or potential so they must know what they are doing and we should be patient. I can understand if the reduction hurts some investors but if the price goes up then we all win. Let's be patient and build together.

I can tell you I bought more HBAR than I otherwise would've if I had known staking wasn't going to last. Let me explain my thinking. First, I'm an investor, not a trader so I take a long- term approach. What does Warren Buffet do? He buys value, that is under-valued DIVIDEND-PAYING stocks. Why? 2-fold: 1) increase in the price of the stock and 2) his companies pay DIVIDENDS!! You see where I'm going with this. If I buy 1 million HBAR, I'm betting on price appreciation but for me, earning 65,000 free HBAR per year, is just as, if not, more important. At $3 per HBAR I'd be generating $195,000 just in interest (staking rewards) WITHOUT ever touching the (hopefully appreciating) principal. Now, take away that 6.5%, I have NO reason to hold HBAR lon-term other than possible capital appreciation of the token itself (which is more of a gamble now) and every reason to trade or sell it as soon as the price goes up. For that reason, I'm selling a lot of HBAR because I can invest & trade on other tokens that I feel will better reward me. Hell, USDC on Coinbase is paying 4.6%, ETH 4.8%, CRO 10%, NEAR 11%, XTZ 5.8% ETC ETC. When they say Hedera is for enterprise, they mean it, they have no loyalty or reason to be concerned about retail investment, that should be obvious now. I have no doubt the tech is the best, that Hedera will become a monster, but there's no representation or room for the little guy, the retail guys. In stocks, the CEO & board make decisions for the benefit of, and for the shareholders. In Hedera, the GC only makes decisions that benefit themselves.

I would like Mance and Leemon address “the little guy” for a change in their interviews. Not corporate not developers

You say that you have no reason to hold hbars long term. I would suggest that you watch Brandon and Zepzi's weekly updates. Each week they point out on average a dozen reasons to hold Hbars long term. Ok, one reason (6.5% rewards) is leaving but there will probably be eleven reasons to take the place of dropping rewards in the next update. They have to leave stuff off because there is so much positive news. I didn't buy for staking rewards and didn't hold waiting for them to come. I knew they would come one day but Leemon had always kept our expectations low and grounded. I was actually shocked at the 6.5% return and expected it to have a short life. I bought for the hockey stick valuations that would come after the hockey stick platform growth that we are now in. This is by far the closest we have ever been to those hockey stick valuations in my opinion so " I pays my money and I take my chances".

We're saying the same thing 2 different ways. I understand all the uses cases and there could be 1,000 of them but you're still only able to take advantage of that in 1 way- token price appreciation, that's it. And that may be enough of a reason for you. My issue is that I was investing for the same reasons you are PLUS the 6.5% staking rewards. I don't think 6.5% was too much. If Hedera is actually building a 100- year company, 6.5% is pretty standard return for stocks, bonds, real estate, mutual funds, etc. over the last 100 years. That's about average and correct. The REAL issue is that the network, right now today, is only putting through about 1k TPS and needs 10k TPS just to be self-sustaining. Let's not forget that the HBAR foundation granted MOST of those HBAR for ATMA. So in essence, Hedera needs 9 MORE projects the size of ATMA just to be at a breakeven point. This is why they are reducing staking, basically there's no fee generation. To put it plainly, they're not making any money, (or nearly enough to even get to even). Now, I believe Hedera will get there but it's going to take a long time before the network is profitable and self- sustaining. Then you MIGHT get that measly 2.5%.

Dude, sell your bag, I’m glad to buy yours. Swap it to USDC and get your 4.6% APY. Hbar will 50x, USDC doesn’t. 2.5% APY is your bonus.

I absolutely will be selling some of my HBAR. You sound like a trader, not an investor. You want to buy HBAR low at X and sell higher at Y, I get it and that's cool for you. But some of us are long-term investors that invest not only to buy low at X but we want the compounding dividends (staking rewards). Scenario 1,trader, 0% staking: buys 1 million HBAR @ $0.05 for $50,000, HBAR goes to $1, congrats you now have $1,000,000 but now you have to sell some of your 1 million HBAR tokens to realize any gains. Scenario 2, investor W/6.5% staking: buys 1 million HBAR for $0.05 for $50,000, HBAR goes to $1 but because I'm staking I can keep all 1million HBAR but use my 65,000 free HBAR staking rewards, to either create a $65,000 income or I'll have 1,065,000 HBAR. The next year, the trader again has to sell his HBAR to realize any gains and keeps selling lowering his 1million every year. The investor keeps his original 1 million and has an income or increases his HBAR holdings. Compounding interest is a beautiful thing. Trading vs investing, huge difference. By removing staking the GC made HBAR a shorter term trade than a long- term hold asset. What does Warren Buffet do? What does Kevin O'Leary do? They buy undervalued, dividend paying stocks so they get BOTH the stock price appreciation PLUS compounding dividends.

That's a fair point but if it goes to a dollar then I probably sell anyway and invest in real estate or something else providing a stable income. Some cheap properties out there with a high yield. Or hold on and wait for 2 dollars. An extra 40k$ on top of a million is neither here nor there for me. 1,065,000 or 1,025,000 is still life changing money for most.

Traders have to be right every time or have very few misses for life changing wealth. I don't know any who have pulled it off. Oh and don't forget the tax on short term capital gains. Investors if done right and with a little luck only have to be right once. I know many who have done this.

You really shouldn't mix crypto with normal stocks but you keep treating crypto same as normal stock in your reasoning but I still I respect what you think and you should do as you please.

I don't believe that. I don't believe that it's going to take a long time to be profitable. Besides as long as I have been following markets, they move on anticipation of events. Betting when the event happens is usually too late or at least too late for that particular cycle. No one in Hedera ever claimed that the 6.5% return would last. It was a bonus or maybe extra payout for being a little tardy starting rewards. Now we have a probable bull cycle coming up and we are well positioned to make that hockey stick run. Am I guaranteeing that? No, but betting hard on it. I like my chances. I've heard about the ATMA gift for more than a year. I think they are giving us the gift. If you've ever shown someone the tps page with pride than you know what I mean. Imagine it stopping. Not a pretty picture. I think it's some of the best spent money for Hedera on record. Avery Dennison tracks stuff. They are probably the go to tracking corporation in the world. They are proving the Hashgraph works. I'm pretty sure that eventually they will hand off the costs to their customers. I don't know the arrangements but they have a plan. When you say they are "only putting through 1k tps", you realize in the history of the world and crypto, that is the largest amount of tps on record. Personally, I think the future of Hedera is bright and although I would rather have 6.5% rewards than 2.5%, I trust Hedera and I trust the council, when that stops, I'm out.

Here’s my two HBAR. First, almost all gains in the years to come will come from principal appreciation, the token price moving up. And actually we might get a boost far more than the 4% yield drop from that capital appreciation. Hypothetically, if in the next bull run we do go above a dollar, I didn’t think for a second that we would remain at 6.5%. Yield on S&P is 1.5%, 10 year treasury 3.375%, and that’s the highest it’s been in 15 years. Most tech stocks have no dividend. So in terms of yield, especially on an asset that has as much appreciation potential as HBAR 2.5% is fantastic. My only disappointment here is that starting at 6.5% and dropping significantly within a year feels a bit disorganized, but also shows how effective governance can get things done when they see the need. In less than 48 hours since the announcement we are up about the same in principle appreciation as we lost in ANNUAL yield. Who knows the market may actually reward this decision. 6.5% was nice though 😂.

🫱🏻‍🫲🏻

When are we coming down from 6.5% staking award to 2.5%?

The 11th - this Friday. And just to clarify, it will be less than 2.5% because both reductive provisions (more than 6.5 bil actively staked and less than 85 mil HBAR in 800) are in play. I get the long term need of the change. I would have preferred a gradual decrease over a number of weeks or a few months rather than jumping off the cliff. It doesn’t change my view of what Hedera is or where it’s heading, but it might change my long term plan. 🤷🏻‍♂️

How does it change your long term plan?

Only that I might adjust the front end of my exit plan to grab a bit more profit on the way up. If we had hit a little run before the staking percent had come down, I was planning on only selling the staking rewards to begin with.