HIVE: Full Decentralization to Users
By Tyshe Jiang | Crescent City Capital Market Analyst Intern
What is HIVE
Hive is a decentralized network platform for sharing and storing digital information, as well as a blockchain-based financial ledger based on the Delegated Proof-of-Stake algorithm (DPoS). In other words, Hive is a social network of applications and services that allows you to connect, share, and discover using blockchain technology. It was founded with a large group of decentralization supporters, concerned that public blockchains were sliding into the hands of corporations, resolved to take action to safeguard their cause on March 20, 2020.
In this era where information and data are kings, people’s information and even some private information that people fill in on social networking sites are supervised by companies or governments. Hive solves this problem through blockchain technology. Let social platforms essentially create a platform where there is no censorship and free speech. So hive is actually the same service that Facebook and Twitter provide to users. Also, anyone can create an account for free and start interacting with the ecosystem without investing in any HIVE coins.
Delegated Proof-of-Stake
Hive uses the Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS) as its consensus mechanism, which is mainly reliant on users putting their money into HIVE coins. Users in the DPoS protocol elect delegates (also known as Witnesses) to validate transactions and create new blocks on the blockchain on behalf of the investors. Generally, there will be 20 elected Witnesses participating in the production of new blocks. This can reduce the number of network nodes and keep the block time around 3 seconds. At the same time, any user can stop supporting and delegate Hive to Witness at any time. This incentivizes witnesses to operate honestly, reducing the chance of centralized control of power over the network.
Proof of Brain Protocol
The interaction between people on social platforms is very important, so Hive has Proof of Brain protocol. When the users publish their content, they have 7 days to receive upvotes or downvotes to get the final grade.
After that, the protocol will choose a set of content that is published by the users with the highest final ratings over a certain time period. The newly minted Hive is subsequently distributed to the top content creators and curators (users who upvoted the content and their comments). Since curators are also compensated, users are more likely to vote on high-quality material, which has a larger chance of receiving a high score. Users can also downvote material to reduce its possible final score. Through this, the users would also spend more time on Hive platform, which let Hive have more exposure.
Steem is also another network that uses proof of brain protocol. Hive is a Steem hard fork formed as a result of community dissatisfaction over the impact of Steem, Inc., the corporation that operates the Steem network, on the network itself.
Hive Token
Hive has three cryptocurrencies:
- HIVE: HIVE is the Hive network’s native cryptocurrency, and it is available in liquid form. This implies that users may simply share HIVE with one another. They can tip or donate to their favorite content providers. Users that actively participate in HIVE are also rewarded.
- Hive Power(HP): it is the non-liquid (staked) form. Users can stake HIVE to their account through the “powering up” process to get Hive Power. Although HP cannot be used to trade, it can be delegated to Witnesses.
- Hive Backed Dollar(HBD): HBD is a stablecoin that can be exchanged for HIVE on a decentralized exchange. 1 HBD should always be equal to $1 USD of HIVE and can be exchanged quickly via the network’s internal market, but there is no fiat reserve to support the HBD. The main advantage of HBD is that Hive-based eCommerce businesses may price things in HBD rather than the more volatile HIVE currency.
Recent Updates
The Hive price on Feb 21st is $0.467854 USD with a 24-hour trading volume of $30,310,160 USD. It has a circulating supply of 460,387,174 HIVE coins.
Summary
In Hive’s white paper, its goal is to become a blockchain solution for enterprises, and for anyone to develop their own applications. Moreover, Hive is an open and secure public database of digital data that is not owned by any organization, but users themselves. So, the users for Hive are growing. And, since Hive transactions are free and fast, individuals or businesses can develop and use their dapps. As such, Hive has the potential to become one of the most widely used Web3 blockchains in the world.
References:
https://hub.easycrypto.com/hive-blockchain
https://coinrivet.com/guides/altcoins/what-is-hive-blockchain/
https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/hive-blockchain/