I would agree with the duality of Bitcoin. Ignoring that cryptocurrencies are disruptive by design and don't fit neatly into the existing pigeonholes of the financial world: I believe that BTC started life as a soft asset, and is becoming harder and harder as time goes on - or to put it another way - as adoption continues. The hardness is linked to its reputation, which continues to grow. Only time can forge it ever harder.

I would not attribute any "hardness" to HIVE. Most altcoins all lack the decentralisation and reputation of Bitcoin, and definitely the brand recognition, all factors which count rather a lot. Remember what happened to HIVE's father STEEM. Look what just happened to Terra. Unless a chain has a bulletproof defence against any form of attack, it should not be considered to be a hard asset. Of all the altcoins I would say Monero is probably the hardest - followed by a couple of trusted old coins like ETH and LTC; but they're nothing like BTC.