Every once in a while I take a step outside the hive ecosystem to see what other mouthwatering opportunities exist in the cryptospace. Is the grass truly greener on the other side?. Every time I try I rush back here on hive because to be very candid, crypto isn’t fun for the most part outside the hive ecosystem, esp if you find yourself at the bottom or middle of the food chain.
Having no financial power in the crypto space puts you in a bad position. It often relegates you to freebies that aren’t a given. Plus, I do not think that it’s a good way to start your crypto journey hunting for free tokens. Freebies are good but you want to earn your token at least, that gives you some form of agency/respect and this is what hive offers (you can come in with nothing but if you are willing to participate and contribute to the growth of the project, you leave with something).
As much as I would like to bash hive whales and the hive ecosystem sometimes, it still operates a very workable system, semi-altruistic amidst the trolling and policing. There are more life-changing stories on hive than there are on other blockchain–-on other blockchains, minnows/redfishs do not have any agency. They are merely tools in the hands of whales looking to shill their project.
I was on a Twitter Space last night trying to learn more about NFTs on Solana and Ethereum (the blockchain I hate). Most of the stories that were shared were nothing but horrible. Virtually everyone in this NFT space is gambling not just with their time but money. I heard stories of people simping just so they can get on certain whitelists to mint NFTs they would speculate on. Oftentimes, the whole process amounts to nothing because most of these NFTs projects end up being rugged and these individuals lose time and capital only to continue the process again with the hopes of making it big someday. This is contrary to the system on hive.
The most I have ever had to do outside hive is share a tweet or two about the project I was shilling and I do this willingly because i believe in those projects. Also, for the most part, hive takes care of itself. By this I mean it has a functional ecosystem that sustains itself through the activities of the communities and projects. For instance, hive users can easily jump on new projects like psyber-x by simply interacting on hive via its various social outlets. These users can easily vet a project because they know the devs on the chain or at least someone who can vouch for them. They can participate in their campaigns, earn a couple of tokens or even buy tokens before the project goes public.
The hive ecosystem functions in a way that reduces the risk exposure associated with most crypto projects. I have been on the chain for close to four years, and there are very few instances where people have been scammed off their money. It is quite difficult to pull such a stunt because hive is a social platform and those involved are actively participating on the chain, exchanging data and information.
On hive, almost everyone is privy to the same information. You don’t need to do anything out of the ordinary or pander to a whale. Most people start with zero capital and are able to maximize their time to generate the capital they need to become investors (if they so please). The ecosystem works in the favour of those who use it. Hive is not a speculative coin, it is a utility token. This, in my opinion, separates hive from the larger crypto community.
I probably would have never gotten into crypto if not for hive because there is little in this space that would attract someone like me. I am also grateful for the fact that crypto is growing beyond the frontier of developers and speculators, attracting more creative individuals. This has demystified crypto in a way that even normies want to get involved and that’s mainly due to the fun factors like NFTs and gaming.