The decentralized Hive fund plays a major role in the Hive ecosystem. It is the backbone for the development and funding of the platform. A tool that provides a self-funding mechanism for the chain! Since the creation of the Hive chain, its role has increased massively since there is no centralized entity that will keep developing. The community members are the ones making the development and the DHF is providing the funds.
The DHF has 23.0M HBD now. It holds 28.6M HIVE as well but those are not available for use. Since the creation of the Hive blockchain in March 2020, a total of 83M HIVE were put in the DHF and later put in a slow conversion of 0.05% per day. After more than six years, 28.6M HIVE are left, while the HBD balance of the hive fund remains above 23M.
Let’s take a look at the data.
The account that holds the DHF funds is the @hive.fund. Only 1% of the HBD holdings in this account are available for daily payouts and funding. At the moment this budget is around 230k HBD per day. Projects can create proposals for funding and if they are voted out from the stakeholders, they will start receiving funds.
There is only one-way funds can exit this account and that is for proposal who have been voted from the community to get the funds.
When it comes to funding the DHF, or how funds are added to the DHF there is more than one way. Funds added to the DHF:
- 10% share of the inflation
- Ninja mined HIVE conversions to HBD
- @hbdstabilizer
- HBD and HIVE transfers to the DHF
- DHF as posts beneficiary
The core source of funding for the DHF is the inflation.
A few more significant sources for funding were added. The most significant would be the HIVE that was transferred from Steemit Inc and co to the DHF. At the time of the fork in March 2020, there was more than 83M HIVE put in the DHF. In October 2020, this HIVE was put in a slow conversion mode with 0.05% of it being converted to HBD daily, that will continue for multiple years. This is to avoid price shocks. At the moment, there is 28.6M HIVE in the DHF now.
Another significant source of funds are the transfers to the DHF that are made by the @hbdstabilizer. This account is receiving fundings for the purpose of stabilizing the HBD. It trades HBD or HIVE on the internal market to maintain the peg and then it sends the funds back to the DHF. Depending on the price of the HBD it sends back HBD or HIVE. When HIVE is sent to the DHF it is instantly converted to HBD at the feed price, making these funds available for use. The stabilizer sends and receives funds, but overall, it has been a net positive. It also acts as post beneficiary for the DHF.
Let’s check the charts.
Funds from Inflation
As mentioned, 10% of the inflation goes to the DHF. Here is the chart.
The amount of HBD added in this way is correlated with the HIVE price. 10% in HBD is not the same when HIVE is 1$ or when it is 10 cents. A total of 7.7M HBD was added in the DHF from the regular inflation. In 2026 through August 25, another 154k HBD has been added to the DHF from inflation.
Funds from the Ninja Mined HIVE Conversions in the DHF
Here is the chart for the HBD added in this way.
This type of funding started at the end of October 2020. This is when the HF happened that enabled this. These conversions are also heavily dependent on the HIVE price.
A total of 22.9M HBD was added to the DHF from this source. A big part of it was added back in 2021 when the HIVE price was high but also daily there were more conversions, while in the last year this has slowed down significantly.
This type of funds will slow down going forward as the amount of daily HIVE converted to HBD is going down. When the conversions started there was around 44k HIVE daily converted and now we are at 14k HIVE daily converted to HBD from the ninja mine. Another significant factor is the price of HIVE. Nevertheless, these funds are limited, and after a few years they will drop even more.
HBD Added to the DHF from the @hbdstabilizer
Here is the chart for the net HBD added in the DHF from the @hbdstabilizer.
As mentioned, the stabilizer receives HBD from the DHF, for the purpose of stabilizing the HBD peg. If the HBD price is higher than 1$ then it will sell the HBD on the internal market. If the HBD price is lower than the peg, it will convert the HBD to HIVE and then buy HBD on the internal market. If the price is at the peg, it will simply return the funds. It sends back funds to the DHF both, HBD and HIVE. The HIVE that is sent back to the DHF is instantly converted to HBD in the DHF to be available for use.
The chart above shows the net HBD added in the DHF from the stabilizer. A total of 4.3M HBD is added in this way in the DHF.
We can notice there has been some volatility in the year, with funds going up and down but in the long run they keep on growing.
When there are spikes in the HBD price, it usually marks a period when more HBD is added in the DHF, and when there are drops in the HBD price, the stabilizer is using more funds and is taking funds out of the DHF.
Note that the stabilizer also receives funds from posts payouts as beneficiary and this has been a significant amount lately since a lot of the top stakeholders allocate there votes there.
Cumulative HBD Added to the DHF
If we combine all the above, we get this.
From the chart above we can notice that the conversions from the ninja mined HIVE in the DHF are the main way for adding funds in the DHF. A total of 22.9M HBD or 65% of the main funds in the DHF has been added in this way. The regular inflation is in the second spot with 7.7M (22%), and then the stabilizer with 4.3M (12%). Going forward it is expected the funding from the ninja mine to drop, as those funds are limited and the regular inflation to increase its share.
Payouts from the DHF
As mentioned, this is the only way HBD leaves the DHF. Here is the chart.
The chart above excludes the payouts to the @hbdstabilizer.
We can notice a few spikes in the payouts, usually when some project with heavy funding in a short period of time, like the valueplan. On average in 2026 around 2.9k HBD has been paid daily to DHF workers. This is well below the 2024 and 2025 levels. The larger spikes still come from temporary increases in proposal funding, while the daily baseline has fallen considerably in recent months.
On a yearly basis the total payouts look like this:
| Year | HBD |
|---|---|
| 2019 | 30,880 |
| 2020 | 616,784 |
| 2021 | 888,701 |
| 2022 | 1,775,947 |
| 2023 | 2,737,887 |
| 2024 | 3,393,126 |
| 2025 | 2,451,453 |
| 2026 | 679,870 |
The funding to projects reached an ATH in 2024 with more than 3M HBD allocated. In 2025 it dropped to 2.45M, while 2026 payouts stand at around 680k through August. The amount dedicated to development is highly debatable. Some projects spend a lot more, some less. The projects need to grow at some point to justify the spend for their size.
HBD Balance in the DHF
Here is the chart.
When we add the funds added and removed from the DHF we get the chart above. A total of 23.0M HBD is in the DHF now. We can see the sharp growth in the funds back in 2021 and 2022. This is mostly because of the ninja mine HIVE to HBD conversions in the DHF and the high HIVE prices at the time. Since 2023 this growth has slowed as HIVE prices dropped and payouts increased. In 2026 the balance has edged slightly lower.
Accounts Receiving Funding from the DHF in 2026
A total of 15 accounts received funding from the DHF in 2026 so far. Here is the chart, excluding the stabilizer.
The @vsc.network is on the top in 2026. Next are @keychain, @peak.open and @cczswap. In the past @valueplan was on the top, while in 2026 it has returned later in the year but remains outside the leading group.
In summary, the DHF's HBD balance remains close to 23M, but growth has largely stalled. The balance has edged lower in 2026 despite continued inflows from ninja-mined HIVE, inflation and the stabilizer. Through August 25, worker payouts total about 680k HBD, while the three main funding channels have added roughly 544k HBD.
The sustainability of new inflows depends heavily on the HIVE price. If HIVE appreciates, the DHF could expand and even support spending at levels seen on major platforms. However, at current price levels and market capitalization, the fund is operating at the edge. Still, the potential upside remains: if even one funded project succeeds, it could generate massive returns, effectively making the DHF operate like a venture capital fund.
All the best @dalz
Live data on HBD here: https://www.hbdstats.com/
