When I signed up on Hive (March 5, 2019) I thought Hive was a simple blogging platform where users could post content, could interact with each other and could also be rewarded for posting and creating content.
Then, reading the posts of other Hive users and interacting with them, I very quickly realised that my initial conviction was totally wrong.
The blogging aspect is only a small part of what the Hive blockchain offers its users.
On Hive there are many front ends that allow you to publish content on the Hive blockchain such as:
Almost all front ends also allow you to create a new Hive account and a new user, at least initially, might mistakenly think they are only publishing on a Peakd or Ecency web space but this is not the case.
HiveBlog is not Hive but is just one of many websites built and developed on the Hive blockchain.
HiveBlog as well as Peakd and Ecency are websites that allow you to read and write content on the Hive blockchain in a very user friendly way.
Hive is a Delegate Proof of Stake (DPOS) blockchain and is also an ecosystem of sites, projects and communities.
The metaphor I like to use to illustrate the difference between the Hive blockchain and the dapps built and developed on the Hive blockchain is as follows:
the dapps of the Hive ecosystem are like windows of a big building that all face the same garden (Hive).
In the following image you can see only a very small part of the projects built on the Hive blockchain.
If you would like to learn about some of the projects built and developed on the Hive blockchain, I recommend the site https://hiveprojects.io/ managed by @engrave.
Today, 6th November 2021, there are 149 projects listed on https://hiveprojects.io/ but this number is constantly increasing.
Hive is more unique than rare!
What makes the Hive blockchain unique are its peculiarities:
- Hive is very fast: 3 second block speeds.
- Hive is completely decentralised
- Hive has no transaction costs
- Hive has many utilities and functionalities
- Hive has a large and beautiful community
Hive is fully decentralised
Hive does not have an owner but has many Stakeholders = the owners of Hive Power.
The Hive Power token is one of three currency tokens on the Hive blockchain:
- HIVE
- Hive Power (HP)**
- Hive Backed Dollars (HBD)
The difference between HIVE, HP and HBD is explained very well in the FAQ of https://hive.blog (following image)
+ Hive Power = + Decision-making power within the Hive network
On the Hive blockchain the most important decisions are made by Hive's Witnesses (Block Producers) who are chosen and voted by all Hive users.
So whoever has more Hive Power also has more decision making power in the choice of Hive witnesses.
Each Hive user can vote for a maximum of 30 witnesses, can change his vote at any time and the weight of the vote depends on the amount of Hive Power he has in his wallet.
Hive users can also decide through voting which proposals to encourage and fund using the Decentralized Hive Fund (DHF).
As with the Hive Witness vote, the weight of the vote for proposals to be funded is directly proportional to the amount of Hive Power of the voting account.
I love decentralisation and Hive is a concrete example of how important and beneficial decentralisation is nowadays.
Hive is not owned by a single person or company as is the case with centralised projects such as Facebook or Twitter.
**Hive belongs to its big and beautiful community!
When a new user gets his first Hive Power he immediately becomes part of Hive and acquires decision-making and action power on the Hive blockchain.
Hive has no transaction costs
Yes you got it right! Hive has no transaction costs!
Transferring a quantity of HIVE tokens or HBD tokens of any amount from one wallet to another has a cost of 0.
To make transactions on the Hive blockchain, the only resource needed is Resource Credits.
The amount of Resource Credits is directly proportional to the number of Hive Power (= staked HIVE tokens) and recharges automatically over time.
If you want to learn more about Resource Credits you can do so from the following link: https://hive.blog/faq.html#How_do_Resource_Credits_work_on_the_Hive_blockchain
I don't know if you have ever tried to transfer an ERC-20 token to the Ethereum blockchain.
A simple token transfer can cost you anywhere from $10 to $50 in transaction costs (the cost varies depending on the state of network congestion).
On Hive, transferring a HIVE token costs 0.
Transferring a HIVE second-level token from my account to another account costs 0.
Playing 30 or 100 battles on my favourite blockchain-based game (Splinterlands) costs 0.
Transferring a Splinterlands card (NFT) or a card from the Rising Star game to another player costs 0.
A few Hive Power tokens are enough to make dozens or hundreds of transactions on the Hive blockchain and at 0 cost!
Hive has many utilities and features
Below I want to show some of the many activities a Hive user can perform to show how much potential and utility the Hive blockchain has.
A Hive user can write and publish content using one of the many front ends available and without having the fear of being censored or blocked for any reason as could happen on Facebook, Youtube and Co.
From the activity of publishing content on the Hive blockchain you can earn HIVE tokens and HBD tokens but also second level Hive tokens if you use certain tags.
A Hive user can buy, transfer, sell a second-level Hive token using one of the following sites:
A Hive user can create their own second-level Hive token**.
A Hive user can invest and add liquidity in TribalDex (DEFI) pools.
A Hive user can play and invest in blockchain-based games created and developed on the Hive blockchain
A Hive user can read lots of interesting and informative posts and by voting on posts and comments (curator activity) can at the same time earn HIVE tokens.
Plagiarism and SPAM are not tolerated on Hive, and this ensures that the average quality standard of content on Hive is very high compared to content published on centralised platforms.
A Hive user can create their own NFT or purchase an NFT created by another Hive user.
Hive has a big and beautiful community
The first thing that pleasantly surprised me when I came to Hive was the great spirit of help and cooperation that exists among Hive users.
When I asked a question I always received an answer or help from other users and that's why I like to help those who are in difficulty to take their first steps on Hive.
My door on Discord is always open and in my posts I always try to be as clear as possible and I put myself in the shoes of a possible new user of Hive who reads one of my posts.
In a previous post I showed how united and strong the Hive community is.
An underestimated value
Today, 6 November 2021, a HIVE token is worth $0.809 (source and screenshots: https://coinmarketcap.com/it/currencies/hive-blockchain/)
Exactly one year ago (6 November 2020), a HIVE token was worth $0.112.
In one year, the value of 1 HIVE has increased by +622.32%.
The 622% increase in value is indeed a very good percentage increase but when I consider all the utilities that the Hive blockchain has and especially compare it to cryptocurrencies from other blockchain projects that have far less utility I can't help but consider the current value of HIVE undervalued.
I believe in the Hive project and when I like a project, I like to set myself very specific growth goals and below I want to share the growth goals I set for myself in November 2020 and that I will try to achieve as soon as possible.
My goals on Hive
Main Goal: 30000 Hive Power
Secondary goals
Engagement Goal (total number of comments): 15000
Reputation Goal: 76
Goal Total Number of Posts: 1300
Followers Goal: 1000
Progress Status
Main goal:
To be achieved by 31 December 2021
I set my main goal in November 2020 when a HIVE token was worth much less than it is now.
A goal that is easy to reach is not a real goal after all, so I set a goal that is very difficult to reach...maybe too difficult :)
I built a simple table with my spreadsheet to track my path to my goal and divided my main goal into smaller intermediate goals of monthly duration.
As you can see from the data in the table in the image below, the intermediate target I needed to reach in October was an increase of 3657.56 HIVE (fifth column in the table: Monthly Target to Reach).
My Wallet
(6 November 2021)
On 30 September 2021 my Hive Wallet had a total value of 19027.32 HIVE (HIVE+HP+HBD).
Today 6 November 2021 my wallet has:
5.018 HIVE, 19079.621 HP and 666.63 HBD (63.44 + 603.18 in Savings).
If I add up all the values (HIVE+HP+HBD) I get a corresponding HIVE value of 19871.57 HIVE (on 6 November 2021)
In one month and six days the HIVE value of my wallet has increased by 844.26 HIVE with a percentage increase of +4.44%.
I subtracted the amount of value I got in the first 6 days of November and updated my table.
To do this calculation quickly I found the website https://hivestats.io/ very useful.
The result I got in October is +710.63 HIVE and is slightly lower than the result I got in September (+746.32 HIVE).
It is also a lot lower than the intermediate monthly target I should have achieved in order to easily reach my final goal of 30000 Hive Power.
As I wrote earlier reaching my final target will be virtually impossible because in two months (November and December) I should be able to increase the value of my portfolio by 10262.05 HIVE with a monthly increase of 5131.03 HIVE.
I could have changed my goal but I preferred not to because even not reaching a goal is important and always teaches something.
By the way, I could easily reach this goal if I decide to convert some of my second level Hive tokens to Hive Power but I like to support the projects created and developed on Hive and I have precise goals for the growth of the second level Hive tokens so I won't do the conversion.
I have however some tokens from games developed on other blockchains, projects in which I don't see much potential unlike the Hive projects in which I have invested and so, never say never, because if one of these tokens should have a strong increase in value in the future I could also succeed in extremis to reach my final goal.
Secondary goals
Reaching 30000 Hive Power is my main goal, but it is not the only goal I have set.
I have also set secondary goals that I would like to achieve and that are related to the activity of publishing content on the Hive blockchain and to the activity of interaction with other Hive users.
Engagement goal (total number of comments): 15000
Of all my goals, the comment count goal is my second most important goal.
**On Hive, interaction is important.
When a new user asks me for advice, I always tell them to focus on interaction and to comment on the posts of other Hive authors who share the same interests as them or who publish useful, quality content.
A new user generally has very little voting power, so their only way to get noticed and make connections with other Hive users is to comment and add value to a post with a comment related to the topic of the post.
"Nice post" comments, on the other hand, are counterproductive and are best not written at that point.
Why would a reader prefer to read a post on Hive about, for example, travel when they could read an article from a well-known online travel magazine?
The answer is simple: because of the value of interaction.
On Hive, interaction is important and most Hive authors appreciate and respond to the comments they receive ;)
My comment goal is to write a total of 15000 comments by the end of 2021.
So far I have written a total of 11867 comments and my daily average is just over 12 comments per day.
In order to reach my goal for the number of comments I have to write another 3133 comments by the end of the year with an average of 52 comments per day.
This will also be a difficult goal to reach, I like reading and commenting a lot but lately I have very little time available due to work commitments.
Reputation goal: 76
On Hive, each account is associated with a numerical value called reputation.
The reputation is a summary indicator of a Hive user's posting and interaction activity.
Reputation is just one of the many elements that differentiates Hive from other centralized, traditional platforms like Facebook and Twitter.
On centralised blogging platforms reputation is not there because it would be a counterproductive element for platform owners.
The users of centralised platforms are just numbers, they are valuable sources of data that can be sold for wealth.
This explains the simple reason why controls on activities such as SPAM and plagiarism are very superficial and almost non-existent on Facebook, Twitter and Co.
In October I finally passed the threshold of 74 reputation points.
On 30 September 2021 my reputation was 73.93 points
Today, 6 November 2021, my reputation is 74.17 points
According to the information on the website: https://hivebuzz.me/ranking I am at position number 452 in the reputation ranking of all users of Hive.
Reaching a reputation value of 76 by the end of the year 2021 will not be possible, but if I get close to 75 I will be satisfied.
However, I have improved my ranking on the HiveBuzz website.
On 30 September I was in position number 485 and now I am in position 452.
Target Total Number of Posts: 1300
I really enjoy writing and publishing content on the Hive blockchain and the goal I set for myself 12 months ago regarding the total number of posts was to publish a total of 1300 posts by 31 December 2021.
When I set this target I had much more time to devote to the activities I enjoy and so even this target will be difficult if not impossible to achieve by 31 December 2021.
So far I have published a total of 1077 posts with an average of about 34 posts per month.
In order to reach m goal by 2021 I would have to publish 223 posts in two months with an average of almost 4 posts per day which is definitely out of my reach also because with my current schedule it will be difficult to publish one post per day.
Goal Followers: 1000
On 30 September I had 836 followers.
In one month and six days 76 people have chosen to follow my profile and today 6 November I have 912 followers.
The number of followers is a goal that unlike the others I could achieve.
October: Considerations
In the month of October I published fewer posts than in previous months.
In addition, I may be taking up a new job in my morning job on Tuesday, which may further reduce the time I can devote to Hive.
Considering the short time I've had, I'm still satisfied with the results, even though I could have done more.
A very positive note in October is that although I published fewer posts my author rewards increased.
- Total Author Rewards (HP): 673.39 HIVE (last month: 528.26 HIVE)
The curation rewards have remained pretty much the same, but that's to be expected because last month I delegated a small portion of my HP to projects I follow and to Hive communities where I post content.
- Total Curation Rewards (HP): 120.04 HIVE (last month: 123.78 HIVE)
Conclusion
Hive is my favourite blockchain project and is the blockchain project I spend the most time on and do so with pleasure.
In this post I have tried to highlight some features of the Hive blockchain that make it more unique than rare in the landscape of existing blockchain projects.
- Hive is a fast blockchain: 3 second block speeds
- Hive is a fully decentralised blockchain
- Hive has no transaction costs
- Hive has many utilities and functionalities
- Hive has a large and beautiful community
For all the reasons listed above Hive is above all the perfect cradle for web 3.0 project development.
The success that the Splinterlands game is having is a clear and obvious demonstration of my previous statement.
Every project built on Hive's blockchain benefits from Hive, it benefits from its technical features and it benefits from the strength of its large community and vice versa Hive benefits from the success of every project built on it.
Are you a developer?
If you are a developer of web 3.0 projects I recommend you to consider Hive: https://developers.hive.io/.
You are not a Hive user?
If you are not a Hive user and don't know the world of blockchains you have two options:
You can continue to be a simple number, a simple source of data and wealth for centralized projects like Facebook & Co.
You can continue to allow your data, your content, your time to be monetized, by contract digitally signed by you, without receiving anything or little more than nothing in return.
You can stop being a simple number and a simple source of money for others and you can choose to be free, you can start your adventure on Hive and you can enter the world of decentralisation.
On Hive you will be an active part of an important project with a lot of potential.
On Hive you will have full ownership of your data, your content and complete freedom of expression but most of all you will become part of a big and beautiful community.
If you don't have an account on Hive you can easily create one in a few steps.
I wrote a short tutorial where I show you how to do it:
HIVE ON
