Hey everyone! I'd really appreciate your thoughts on something that's been on my mind recently. As some of you may know, the @worldmappin project has [started paying curation rewards](https://peakd.com/hive-163772/@worldmappin/exciting-news-launch-of-our-delegators-reward-program-engesp) to its delegators who contribute at least 50 Hive Power. It’s not a new concept for projects or accounts to accept delegations, vote, and then return a portion of the rewards based on the delegated value. We've seen this practice on Hive and previously on Steem for a long time, and there are plenty of projects doing great work in this area.

Most of the projects I've looked at handle curation rewards by returning liquid funds from post payouts back to the delegators. Many of them even initiate a power-down to access more liquid funds. Earlier, I did a quick sample check on several curation projects to see where user funds are actually going. For a few projects, I noticed that the rewards are being sent, for example, to the Hive 2nd layer or even leaving the blockchain entirely via exchanges. Personally, I find this concerning and not a positive practice.

When funds exit the blockchain, especially through exchanges, it can weaken the overall Hive ecosystem. Ideally, curation rewards should stay within the ecosystem to help grow and reinforce Hive’s long-term value. In my view, curation projects should prioritize strengthening Hive’s ecosystem by either retaining funds in Hive Power or reinvesting within Hive's layers, rather than channeling them outwards.

Now, here’s my question – and I think it’s a fair one for all curation projects on Hive: Should we consider making rewards payable exclusively in Hive Power instead? I'd like to get a conversation going on this topic and outline some potential pros and cons for discussion (and this is by no means an exhaustive list!).

#### Pros:

- Liquid funds wouldn’t need to be paid out, allowing delegating accounts to accumulate Hive Power over time.
- Reduced selling pressure on the market, as fewer tokens would be leaving the blockchain.
- Potential for more HBD to be converted into HIVE.
- Delegators could build up their own Hive Power, which they could then redelegate to the project, creating a cycle that benefits the curation project.
- Any other pros? Feel free to add them in the comments!

#### Cons:

- Delegators would lose some flexibility with access to liquid funds.
- Slightly higher technical complexity to implement.
- Liquid rewards would need to be converted to HIVE and then sent to the user as Hive Power (essentially a power-up to another user), which is manageable but a minor drawback.
- Any other cons? Let’s discuss them in the comments!


To be clear, technically, it is possible to pay curation rewards in Hive Power, through a vesting transfer, for example. 

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I’d love to hear your thoughts – do you think it makes sense to pay delegation rewards exclusively in Hive Power? Or do you prefer the flexibility of liquid rewards? Keep in mind that Hive Power comes with a 13-week lock-in period. Let’s dive into this debate together!