We often discuss topics of where Hive can be a threat to the existing system. This can be within the social media realm where we see blogging, microblogging and other features starting to take hold.
There is also gaming. With Splinterlands, Hive boasts one of the leaders blockchain gaming. This is being followed up with the development of other games, many which have equal potential.
Then we have finance. There are many articles written about the idea of bonding, lending, and providing an assortment of financial services. All of this has the potential to frame Hive in a completely different manner.
However, the more advanced we get, sometimes we overlook the most basic of concepts.
In this article, we are going to turn back the close and focus upon the most fundamental of blockchain concepts.
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Bitcoin came onto the scene with a revolutionary idea. People could transfer value (money) and have it settled without the use of any centralized third party. It was a financial network that operated without any financial intermediaries.
This is something we overlook. Sovereignty was an important tenet in the early days of the industry. The idea that someone, through the private key system, could have complete control over his or her money was groundbreaking. As the system expanded, the ability to stop any transactions rapidly diminished.
Bitcoin, the network, does come with some problems. While it eliminates counterparty risk, the speed of the system is not ideal. Utilizing the Proof-of-Work consensus mechanism, we often see it taking a couple hours for transactions to settle. To be a global payment system, this is insufficient.
That said, it still does offer a secure, decentralized medium of exchange. Fortunately, Hive does this also.
Hive offers a decentralized stablecoin that is not backed by any company or foundation. The coin is tied to a blockchain that has nodes running all over the world. It has block producers who are unrelated in terms of their voting and engagement with each other. Through the Delegate-Proof-of-Stake system, nobody validates more than 5% of the blocks.
Volatility is a killer when it comes to a medium of exchange. A payment system requires a degree of stability in the currency being used to make the purchases. Here is where most cryptocurrency fails. As a method of payment, the fact that it can have 10% or even 20% swings in a 24 hour period makes it ill-suited for this purpose.
The industry uncovered this fact and, hence, the development of stablecoins. This is designed, through a peg, to operate in a more stable manner. Hive offers this through the Hive Backed Dollar (HBD), which can always be converted to $1 worth of $HIVE.
Again, since it is decentralized and tied to the base layer of the blockchain, there is no entity behind it. This means no counterparty risk other than the chain itself.
In addition to a somewhat stable medium of payment, Hive also offers something unheard of within the payment realm.
Within the system, there are no transaction fees. Unlike other payment applications, with Hive, one simple sends the amount to another wallet without fear of a fee cutting into the total. Blockchain applications along with the traditional financial services networks, i.e. banks, charge for this service.
On Hive, there is zero direct cost. The only requirement is to have enough of the access token staked to engage with the blockchain.
At the same time, there are 3 second block time. Unlike the aforementioned Bitcoin, a Hive transaction will not take hours. It will either transmit or fail, within a couple seconds.
This is a fact that puts it on part with the traditional payment systems. In fact, when it comes to international communications, this could even outpace them. Hive's transaction time is global, meaning the physical locations of the participants is immaterial. Once the system receives the transaction, it processes the same it whether it originated in Malaysia or San Francisco.
When it comes to payments, most focus upon the end users.
However, Hive's system offers huge benefits to merchants. This is something that is rarely every discussed but is crucial. Any merchant who realizes this will see how foolish it is NOT to use this payment network.
Retailers typically have what is called a merchant account with financial service providers such as Visa. These accounts enable the processing of transactions using the cards offered by the company. The merchant is not responsible for the validation of the individual nor worried about the ability to pay. That is all handled by the likes of Visa.
For this service, a fee is charged. This is most often tied to the volume that a company does. An entity like Walmart will get a fee of 0.5%-0.75% whereas companies that do less transactions might pay 3%.
Hence, when receiving payment, the fees are deducted from the total. This is simply a cost of doing business.
But not with Hive. There are no fees with the service, for the sender or receiver. If 10 HBD is sent, that is exactly what is received.
Another feature is when the money is received. With Visa, in the United States, payment usually arrives within a day or two. This is not the end of the world as all merchants are aware of it.
However, with Hive, the money is processed in a few seconds. As soon as the transaction is complete, the funds are available. Hence, we have a 24-48 hours timeframe verses a few seconds.
Finally, Hive offers one block irreversibility. This is something that is unheard of within the cryptocurrency and traditional financial world alike.
In the latter, the customer has a certain period of time to cancel the transaction. This is not the case with Hive. All transactions are final as they say.
The difference is the merchant knows they are financialized within a few seconds. In addition to 3 second block time, the time on irreversibility is a couple hundred milliseconds. Here we see how the claim is transactions are completely finalized on Hive within 1.6 seconds on average.
Hive simply offers one of the best payment systems out there.
As a merchant, it offers benefits that are unrivaled. Visa become the leading payment processing company in the world, and earning a huge amount of money in the process. It built out a powerful computer network that allows for global transactions. Fortunately, blockchain offers that by default.
When it comes to speed and a lack of fees, Hive stands out. The fact it utilizes a stablecoin with a unit of account everyone understands, i.e. USD, we see how the learning curve is rather reduced.
Here are a couple articles (here and here) explaining how breakfast was purchased using HBD in Venezuela. Both the customers and merchant experienced the benefits outlined in this article.
For this reason, it is easy to see how a Hive brings the original tenets of cryptocurrency to the table. It is for this reason, and the fact that it does it better than any other network out there, that it is a threat to the existing payment system.
Hive is simply the best payment processor there is.
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