Many old-timers on Hive know about HSBI (Hive Stake-Based Income), so this post is more for new people who have only joined in the last year or two.

HSBI is a great program on this network. Basically it is an experiment in providing a basic income to everyone on Hive—well, everyone who joins the program anyway. There is something of a kindness incentive to the program. I hesitate to use the word Universal Basic Income, because I know that is a trigger word for many people, but there is something of that in here, in that it encourages members to support each other and be concerned for the well-being of the group. I like that kindness angle to the program.

The basic idea is you sponsor someone for membership by buying them x shares of HSBI. As a “reward” for sponsoring someone, you also receive the same number of shares you sponsor them for. You will then get an upvote on your posts relative to how many shares of HSBI you own. At the moment it is a somewhat small upvote per share, but that will go up as the price of HIVE increases.

@josephsavage has been running it since back in the Steemit days and continues to do a wonderful job. You can find him around Hive and also on the HSBI Discord server. Here is a link to the Discord server.

Another two links you may be interested in are the HSBI FAQ and the HSBI website, where you can check various things like how many shares of HSBI you have, who you’ve sponsored and who’s sponsored you, and the rich list.

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So how do you sponsor someone and join the program. Simply send a HIVE transaction to @steembasicincome for the amount of HSBI that you want to sponsor someone for, then the name you want to sponsor in the memo.

If that confuses you a little, you’re in luck: it’s even easier on Peakd. Simply go to your wallet and then the “Others” section. In here, hit the “Sponsor” button. In the popup, put the people you want to sponsor in the “receiver” section and the number of shares you want to give them in the “units” section.

If you want to sponsor multiple people, simply separate their names by a space. Just be sure that the number of units to sponsor is divisible by the number of people you sponsor. For example:

That’s all there is to it!

I have noticed an uptick in people sponsoring each other for HSBI lately, and that is pretty great to see. I hope it continues! This is one program that we all benefit from and I hope to see it continue and remain healthy.

❦

David LaSpina is an American photographer and translator lost in Japan, trying to capture the beauty of this country one photo at a time and searching for the perfect haiku. He blogs here and at laspina.org. Write him on Twitter or Mastodon.