What if we wake up tomorrow (or let's say next week) and Hive jumps from its current value to ×10, or there is a sudden influx of users that takes us from thousands to millions in a short period of time.
I reckon it is something we've all dreamt of, but not many have taken time to fully process the consequences. One thing is certain, and that is it won't be the Shangri-la we mostly expect. There are always unforeseen bottlenecks associated with unprecedented growth, and a few of them in this instance are not totally unexpected.
For instance, we'd have to seriously consider the possibility of an implosion should prices spike overnight. Don't get me wrong, I think the Hive community has matured to the extent where the core community is experienced enough not to lose our heads on the instance of a sudden change. However, sharp spikes tend to bring about increased attention not witnessed previously.
In the case of a price spike, there will be a large influx of those who'd get in solely with the aim of benefitting from such price actions, thereby completely missing out on the core fundamentals of the Hive project. We saw it once with steem, and we'd likely see it again if we do spike astronomically without strengthening our core.
However, in the instance of a spike in numbers rather than price, that will be a Unique set of challenges that we'd have to contend with. Prominent among these in my opinion would be the incredible scrutiny that the platform is going to come from under regulators. I personally have no problem with this, but what Binance has become for example, it probably would be a safe guess to say that such an event will greatly distract us in the sense that innovations would likely slow down and there would likely be an unnecessary tension between those who want to retain the numbers success and those who want to retain the original vision of Hive.
In hindsight, it would be a lot more difficult for Hive to cave into regulatory pressure unlike Binance because of the truly decentralized governance structure the platform operates. Hive isn't owned by one person thankfully, even though there are large stakeholders and the governance structure is not effectively controlled by one person either. Meaning it would be very difficult to convince the decision makers to go with any centralized structure, and since we run a community system, it is unlikely the community will be so compliant even if the decision makers sell out.
Realistically though, we are not likely to see these two success parameters mutually exclusive of one another. Instead, they are most likely going to be experienced concurrently.
I believe the current development pace for the Hive chain, though not ideal, is necessary for future development. We have seen improvements in the space as our devs and decision makers figure out how to best execute the vision of Hive. Perhaps when we get to a certain point, then we can Confidently be ready for any form of growth and its accompanying consequences.
Till then, I pick a steady but sure pace for our development.