At the moment Hive does not have the needed technology to build the token system. Hive engine is one option that we were looking at, but it proved to not the best fit. The majority of SPK network operations will be done through Hive. The only part of the SPK network done on PPY will be the token system, but consensus level operations will primarily be done using Hive as a means for communication/consensus. We made the decision it would not be within our interests to build an entire token layer on top of Hive, then build the SPK network on top of that. It's not a productive use of our time for a project focused on video content. The idea is to integrate with SMTs once it has been implemented, tested and put in place properly. In a few regards, PPY will as serve trial to test out and build the protocol without going through unnecessary hoops of a Hive token layer. PPY has wrapping functionality for wrapping Hive for interacting with the SPK network token system. This is an ongoing topic which we will need to do further clarification/sort out and provide updates on. As the functionality is built into Hive either through SMTs or other we will make the necessary changes to migrate over.

Additionally, (not entirely related to the above), the indexing system is meant to help "bind" multiple blockchains into the SPK network and along with indexing Hive social media content relevant to videos or other selective criteria. The token system will remain on Hive/PPY. The indexing entails users can post using an Ethereum, Bitcoin or other compatible blockchain wallets onto the SPK network and ultimately onto Hive as well. The idea here is to bridge the gap from web2 websites, well known blockchains but lack proof of brain rewarding and blogging system. Indexing on Hive is a huge issue. Currently there options for indexing of Hive posts aren't great. HiveSQL is one option for developers, but it's centralized, slow and does not index JSON metadata of posts, necessary for a lot of projects. The standard Hive RPC API does not even provide any kind of indexing outside of a very narrow channel of operations. For example get_following, get_ranked_posts, get_post, but it doesn't provide what a lot of developers need. Most importantly it can be very slow, unreliable, and extremely hard to run by developers (huge server costs, complicated documentation, etc). Plus, it doesn't even serve the crucial task of indexing JSON metadata from posts. This is why projects like 3speak.tv and others have secondary databases sitting in-between Hive and the frontend. The indexing side of the project will make the life of developers (both external and internal) using Hive a lot easier.

TL;DR

• Token system will exist on PPY using wrapped Hive to help supplement the lack of token support on Hive. This is until Hive has the right tools we need.
• Consensus operations will be conducted using Hive. (Keep in mind I am using the term consensus very loosely here). This means validating, storing and buying storage from the network.
• The majority of SPK network tech will be built on Hive to begin with. In the future remaining portions will be fully migrated.

Indexing:

• Bridge web2 accounts --> SPK Network and/or Hive
• Bridge accounts of other chains --> SPK Network and/or Hive
• Significantly improves indexing of social media content on Hive.
• Significantly improves the barrier to entry for using Hive

Any further comments/clarifications are appreciated. I can elaborate more on the Tech side of the project with the exception of a couple of topics related to the Token.

-- @vaultec on the behalf of The SPK network.