Sometimes things just align.
With technology, there are many variables that go into success. Having the right technology yet at the wrong time can result in failure. Virtual Reality appears to have hit this situation on a few occasions. The difficulty going from concept to full blown production is difficult. Scaling, whether it is technology or production, is often a problem.
For the last year, we have seen Hive emerge as a fork of Steem. At that time, few knew the direction things were going other than the fact that we were getting away from the Justin Sun attack. In hindsight, his moves were the best thing that every happened to the community.
While the first 11 months were wrought with difficulties, the advancement made was nothing short of stunning. As posted by @hiveio, one of the goals, from a technical standpoint, was to scale the blockchain. Through the work of developers such as @blocktrades and @howo, this was accomplished. To what degree is still a mystery to most of us. The only insight we have is Blocktrades commenting that we are now 10x of the max capacity before the optimization took place. Since we really don't know what that was, it is hard to get a firm hold on it. What we do know is the blockchain never came close to that before the upgrades.
Along the way, something else happened that was outside of Hive yet will really affect things. The social media companies went full on censorship. The 2020 United States election saw actions taken that most of us would have thought unheard of a year ago. Nevertheless, many were awakened to the fact that nobody, including the President (now former) President of the United States, was except. If Big Tech wanted to zap your account, it could and would.
In the U.S., where freedom of speech is supposedly valued, a major debate was set off. Certainly, the Constitution does not apply to these entities since it is targeted Congress. However, many are starting to wonder whether having this much power in a basically unregulated industry is healthy. Ironic that these questions are now coming from the supposed anti-government right.
Either way, the debate will not be settled. This would be something that could rage on for decades.
What can settle the discussion is technology. Here we see where Hive could potentially step into the limelight. Right now there is a solid community of both users and developers. While our numbers might not be the largest online, we are dedicated, passionate, and are being called to something bigger than just having a successful app. If you will, a mission is forming.
Hive has the opportunity to provide freedom. As Justin Sun found out, being centralized means the United States Government can find you. If there is a mailing address of an entity, that means there is an entity. With Hive, this does not exist. Since the ninjaminen stake was put in the DAO, Hive instantly become a blockchain different from most of the rest.
There are no leaders; no foundation or company to go after. Everything is based upon stake with no founders share eating up most of the outstanding balance. Even Blocktrades, one of the largest holders, is under 5%. This is very powerful in this era where centralized entities are apt to be attacked.
Source
Hive was basically built as a social media platform. The focus, initially, was on blogging yet it has moved away from that. With the layer 2 solutions being developed, we are seeing more social media features arriving. @3speak allows for the uploading of videos, soon to a decentralized video storage network. @leofinance is close to releasing an application that they are terming "twitter on the blockchain". In other words, we are going to have the ability to attract users who are concerned about being censored or displaced.
On Hive, an account cannot be closed. This about that for a second. How powerful is that? An account cannot be closed. That does not exist on Twitter, Facebook, or Google. At the same time, there are no violation of the terms of service on the blockchain since there are none.
This is something that is unheard of today. As the last year showed, no matter how long one is on a platform, if that company decides to zap the account, all history is gone.
With Hive, this is not the case. Once an account is established it is there plus all activity is on the blockchain.
Here we could be seeing a situation where the solution is showing up just as it is needed. People who question the established narrative, at least in the United States, are being targeted. This list seems to be expanding on a monthly basis. There is a propaganda war taking place. Control is at stake and that is why the forces are so powerful.
Yet here we sit with Hive. This is a blockchain that has a number of front ends. The blockchain cannot be shut down. It is running 24/7, open to anyone to post whatever is desired. The only requirement is one needs to have a Hive account and some Resource Credits to operate. After that, it is freedom.
Personally, it looks like Hive's timing is impeccable. The scaling work on the blockchain should allow for a great deal more activity if we are able to tap into the displaced users across the social media spectrum. At the same time, the fact that Hive is a lot more decentralized than a year ago is of great help. With powerful forces looking to maintain control, it is best to have as many weaknesses eliminated as possible.
Finally, we now know that if Hive is attacked to such a degree that it is in jeopardy of collapse, the community will simply use the most powerful weapon in open source: the fork. The community showed that if it is forced to move, it can and will do it.
Sometimes the stars just align. With all that is taking place, we could potentially see a massive explosion in activity relating to the Hive blockchain. A few more pieces drop into place from the development standpoint and we could see a much different outlook on here.
Things are moving quickly and Hive could simply be in the right place at the right time.
We will see where things stand heading into Summer.
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