Like many of you I feel energized and excited in a way I haven't felt in years with the launch of Hive, and it seemed like participating in 
To me Hive, is a monumental achievement. In my first Hive post I talked about how I never in a million years would have imagined that the things that have led to the creation of Hive could have happened, and how it involved numerous amazing and unprecedented events in the entire blockchain space.
No matter what happens in the end, Hive will always be an example of the principles of decentralization in action and the power of a community.
I want to see Hive evolve into the same thing I wanted to see Steem evolve into - the blockchain and cryptocurrency that powers the first blockchain-based applications that achieve significant levels of mainstream usage.
It's already leading in that regard, but that's not saying much as the number of real users across all blockchain-based applications is amazingly small. I consider significant levels of mainstream usage to be over 1M real, active users, as compared to the tens of thousands that it has today.
That was the potential that I saw for Steem years ago when I joined, but obviously the opportunity was completely squandered. Now the opportunity is back again, and it would be significantly more impressive if it can be pulled off without a centralized organization running things.
It seems to me that the vast majority of blockchain-based apps are only focusing on the existing cryptocurrency community, which makes sense because it's much easier and even though it's a small number of people there is a LOT of money there. But the first blockchain platform to get millions of real people using it - not just trading tokens, but actually using applications built on it - will be a tremendous accomplishment for validity and future of the entire industry.
Hive has a good chance to be that first blockchain platform to make it happen, and that's what I want to see it become.
Being able to fund development is important, but that doesn't do much on its own. It's how those funds are used and the execution of the projects being funded that will really shape the future of the platform. As an example, Steemit, Inc had a large fund for Steem development and we all know how that turned out.
It will also be very interesting to see if it can be effectively managed as a DAO. I expect it will take a good deal of organization and coordination to get this platform to the 1M+ real users that I would like to see, and I don't think a bunch of small, one-off projects will get it there.
What I will be looking for with the DAO is the following:
This will require a lot of people to care and pay attention to what is going on, which is unfortunately a rare occurrence, but it has happened once here already so I'm optimistic it can happen again.
To me, Hive means renewed opportunity. Steem has been called "the blockchain of opportunity" in the past and that's something I have always liked and agreed with. I know it was said by Ned, but I'm pretty sure he just took that from someone else and passed it off as his own like pretty much everything else, so I'm ok with liking and agreeing with it.
In any case, I believe that Steem was a "blockchain of opportunity", but the opportunity was completely and utterly missed. Now the dead weight is lost, funding is available, and I feel that the opportunity is back and I'm excited to see what will come of it!
Note: All rewards from this post will go to the Hive Development Fund to support the development of the Hive platform.
