Forget blockchain, I can't think of many other pieces of true technology in general that's been invented in the past 20 years that is more advanced and advantageous to humanity than the Hive blockchain. The issue of the lack of true technology in our current world is a discussion for another time however.
Gif by: @doze
Whether you have been here for a month, or as long as 5 years from all the way back in pre-fork Steem days, you are aware of the extreme utilities lit with infinite pathways of abundance and focused networking to one degree or another. Whether you arrived here by the reference of a personal friend, or by way of the great Splinterlands, you have likely also noticed not only the financial potential, but also have experienced the financial and netwroking benefits of this platform.
Image Source
When I used to tell people about how amazing Steem was, and even in the earlier days of Hive, they would either look at me like I was crazy, flat out tell me I was crazy, or both. Since I would often sense these reactions to be a defensive form of projective confusion, I always just took it in stride, and kept plugging away for my future around here. These days (as of about 3 months ago), people don't look at me so crazy when I talk about Hive and/or Splinter. In fact, more people are asking me about how to get involved with the blockchain than ever before!
So Why is Hive the Best Blockchain?
Here is a Long List
Free & Practically Instantaneous Money Transfer System
Image Combined/Crafted by: @ELAmental
Let's start here, as this insanely powerful utility is often overlooked. You can transfer any amount of Hive or HBD to ANY other Hive account, with ZERO transaction fees, and it happens in a matter of seconds in most cases. I am not sure if there is another blockchain out there that can boast this kind of free and quick money transfer system.
Publish Blog Posts to Earn and Own Your Content
Instead of wasting your time and energy posting on "mainstream" social media sites like Facebook and Instagram, and singing over all the intellectual property rights for all your content to them (along with having your personal information stolen and sold to corporations and/or governments without compensation or direct consent), you could be publishing your content here on the Hive blockchain in dated publications that you outright own yourself, in addition to being paid for your efforts via votes from other accounts that value your content.
Image Source
Posting about my projects on Hive in this way has also funded many of those same projects through the rewards I get from publishing updates about them - extremely symbiotic.
Voting Governance Based on a Peer-Voting/Rewards System
Firstly, you can achieve payouts from votes on not only your blog posts, but also your comments, as well as the votes you give out to others. When you are paid out for your content, you have several options with what you can do with the liquid portion of them, but the standard payout feature gives you 50% liquid Hive, and 50% in what is known as Hive Power (HP). There are also payout options for all liquid payouts with Rewards.app (for a small fee), or you can choose to power up 100% of your payout.
Image Source
When you power-up HP into your account, it increases the amount your vote is worth, and in turn increases your curation rewards, which is 1/3 of the total post payout rewards that goes to the voters, with the other 2/3 going to the authors. Whenever you power-up your account, you will always have the option to power it down as well (over the course of several weeks in even-increments), to get you liquid Hive back. You can also cancel a power down.
You also have three other options for the liquid Hive that you earn. You can either export it with SimpleSwap to any other crypto for "cashing-out", transfer it to Hive-Engine to trade for your choice of a myriad of other tokens that can potentially increase your rewards and/or exposure in various areas (or just simply for speculation), or you could opt to pay for goods and services from other Hive users directly.
Autovoting, Curation Trails, & Delegations
You can manually vote on posts and comments with a customized scaled percentage each time, or you have the option to combine that with autovoting on certain accounts with custom parameters if you do not always have the time to vote manually. Dialing this in will take some time and adjustments as your networks and interests on Hive grow.
Image Source
Additionally, you can follow what are known as "curation trails" that vote on a lot of different accounts in specific topic-focused communities. All autovoting and trail setups can be made and adjusted on Hive.Vote. You can also monitor your voting percentage (VP), resource credits (RCs), among many other technical stats for your account(s) on Hive Blocks, to determine the percentage autovoting adjustments required for your customized needs.
Internal Exchange & Token Creation
Image Source
There are literally limitless currency options with perks and benefits on Hive's frontend exchange known as Hive-Engine. While there are a great many tokens to choose from, most with their own unique utilities and advantages, I say limitless because you can also create your own tokens, with custom settings and functions, with the option to attach them to your project(s) as well.
Favorable Tokenomics
With a current circulating supply of 393,161,518 Hive coins, and a low inflation rate of about 8%, that also deflates at a rate of 0.01% per 250000 blocks (more tokenomic info here), the tokenomics are also quite favorable for Hive coins themselves from an investment standpoint.
Image Source
The organically grown upward Satoshi value trends we have been seeing lately are also a prime indicator that Hive is on it's way up in a more permanent fashion. HBD (the secondary crypto you are paid out in for blog posts/comments and votes) is also a fantastic stable coin that sometimes gives you an even better than $1 to 1 coin ratio.
Topic Focused Communities
Whatever it is that gets your passion ignited, there is a Hive community for it, and if there isn't, you can literally create one yourself easily and quickly (there is still a need for an automotive repair community and things like that if your game to lead). There are separate front ends for most Hive communities as well, so when you post in one of them, or use their corresponding tag(s), your blog post will also appear on those additional front ends, which are actually separate web-sites - providing additional exposure in topic focused areas, for optimum visibility efficiency.
Collage Crafted by: @ELAmental
There are communities for writers, artists, gamers, gardeners, naturopathic medicine workers, financial folks, cannabis connoisseurs, fungi enthusiasts, activists, environmentalists, geekz, comic book fans... there are even communities for memes and of course NFTs - and you can earn tokens in all of them. Sometimes your topics overlap and you can earn multiple tokens and receive multiplied exposure by using several community tags. Just be sure to never "tag-spam", and only use tags that are actually appropriate for your post. The decentralized governance will get you if you do not follow community rules and guidelines.
Project Building Platform
Yes, you can also build your own projects on the Hive blockchain, and is likely the easiest/most user-friendly platform to do so on. While you do not need to be or hire a coder to accomplish this, there are more advanced levels of project development that can be achieved if professional coders are involved (as we have seen with flagship projects like Splinterlands, Hive-Engine, and Peakd).
The beautiful thing is though, like most Hive utilities, you can choose how much of something you want to utilize, and if you do not know much about it, you can still pull it off... and always upgrade later down the road as you acquire more wisdom and/or funding to do so.
Contests & Giveaways
This is one of my favorite aspects of the Hive community in general, and I have been on both sides of this coin many times. I have enetered and won many contests/giveaways on Hive and even back on Steem pre-fork. I even once won a rare gold Alpha Splinterlands (at the time Steem Monsters) card by default because no one else entered the contest - true story.
Image Source
I have hosted so many of my own contests and giveaways I have lost count. I have done a ton of logo design contests for various communities, projects, and even one event (I am actually about to host another event logo contest soon). I am currently hosting an art collaborative style contest for a book set to release with my upcoming album: Power of Truth, where every entry will be featured in the book with a link to each artist's blog or other online portfolio printed within... more synergism, and more things you can choose to do with your Hive earnings.
I have also met some pretty cool people when hosting strait up giveaways. Hosting both contests and giveaways are also a formidably effective way to grow your account following. You can even require a follow as an entry parameter, but I would not recommend that as it tends to happen naturally anyway.
All Accounts Created Equal in Voting for Witnesses
A witness has many important duties working with code and governance of the blockchain, but the top 20 witnesses make the big decisions when debates arise about how to scale, improve, and in rare cases even save the blockchain from invasion. Every single account, whether you have 1 HP or 1 million HP, has an equal amount of 30 votes for witnesses. While you could make sock accounts for extra votes, there are so many legit accounts now that those kind of tactics are futile, and it costs many resource credits or account creation tokens to do this if not using a referral code which also dials in fees, temporary as they may be, or pay for an account with Hive directly.
Image Source
Voting for witnesses will not gain you direct financial rewards, but it is an important reasonability for every account to eventually execute, and sometimes update - the "elections" here are carefully tracked, fully public, and constantly ongoing - anyone could loose or gain a top 20 seat at any time. If you feel you know someone you agree with on many fronts that may be more familiar with the witnesses, you also have the option to proxy your witness votes to them, in essence making their votes count twice - again, that is your choice.
The Most Decentralized Blockchain
This is a space where there are a vast array of communities run by teams of volunteerists, governed by a mutually agreed upon system of parameters decided, sustained, and evolved by the top 20 witnesses voted on equally by every account, with installed safeguards to prevent outsiders with lots of money and power from dismantling it (as we saw in the case of the Tron attempted takeover of Steem and the resulting lockout of Justin Sun's puppet witness accounts which eventually resulted in the fork of the Hive blockchain we all love today).
Image Source
Everyone is free to come and go as they wish, do whatever and as much or as little as they wish, but reputation is not to be taken likely. Yes there is an actual reputation score which is computed by the frequency of whales (BIG HP accounts) voting on your content, but your literal reputation is something that is held in high regard in this space. That is the biggest check Hive has against riff-raff, is so many quality people, and their quality contributions, expelling the majik of filtering out that which does not belong. Not by force, but by means of conscious resistance to ignorance and disrespect.
Image Source
Passion, hard work, and quality content are appropriately rewarded (for the most part) at this point in Hive's evolution, and more utilities are emerging every day for that to be even more of a fact. Projects like #proofofbrain and #hivebasicincome are really dialing this in for anyone who is even semi-established on the chain. One should not expect to earn an epic amount of crypto on their first several blog posts, but with persistence, patience, and learning to use more tools available to them, it always pays off... IF THIS DOES NOT SOUND LIKE THE MOST DECENTRALIZED BLOCKCHAIN OUT THERE - PLEASE ENLIGHTEN ME TO WHICH ONE IS! It be like that.
Hosts the #1 Blockchain Game in the World
Image Source
Which is also constantly in the top tier of the list for best decentralized applications on Earth in multiple categories. You know it, we all know it - Splinterlands. As of the date of this publication, we are only about two months into a year long airdrop of a Splinterlands governance token known as Splintershards (SPS). The airdrop amount is based on a point system calculated by the types and amounts of various Splinter-related assets that are in your account. Each day at 9AM you are dropped X amount of calculated SPS. Dark Energy Crystals (DEC) gets you the most SPS airdrop per dollar per day if your looking to stack. Those SPS points will also earn you vouchers for the presale of the next set Chaos Legion, which will give you a chance at pre-sale exclusive OP Splinter cards (even a few gold-foil ones).. Those vouchers will also be valuable for resale... while your earn more SPS.
I could go on all day about the symbiotic and cyclical nature of the Splnterlands ecosystem, but that is not the main point of this article. If you don't know about Splinterlands yet, use this referral code to open an account, buy the spell book for $10 to unlock the whole game for life, get some DEC on Hive-Engine, and start stackin' SPS before you miss more of this LOOOONG airdrop.
Image Source
There are newer and also amazing blockchain games popping up on Hive frequently like Dcity, Dcrops, Hashkings, and Rising Star - the ladder I am especially excited about being a musician/ entertainer.
Guards at the Gate to Filter the Unfocused
Resource credits / necessary Hive Power (HP) prevents "the average joe" (so to speak) from just walking through the gates of Avalon without first checking in with the community. This allows some established folks to network with new people to at least a small degree when they first arrive. This will not only prevent many trolls and crazies from entering the platform, but also give people that are really committed to joining a fair chance at understanding enough to get started, and also have the resources at their fingertips that they need to move forward in a more advanced fashion when they are ready for it. The unfocused and uncommitted naturally float away when they hit the initial wall of frustration. I used to think this was a bad thing, but now I see just how vital it is. To be successful on Hive, you must know how to reach out.
Image Source
With powerful utility and advanced functionality comes versatility in customization, but also with it a steep learning curve. This is a correlation I have only seen matched in my life by learning audio engineering (in comparison to learning Hive's complexities).
Voting Power and Resource Credits are also vital governance tools to ensure that voting can be limited and remains a finite resource, and so that folks with little vests do not overload the blockchain.
Hive is for Everyone
The beautiful thing about Hive is you do not have to be some kind of skilled programmer or coder to use most of the blockchain's main features, the coders that are here have already done that for you, and are still doing it to make everything even better, and create new utilities. BUT - if you are the programmer/coder/web-dev type, there is even more access at your fingertips.
Image Source
In all reality, you don't have to be anything beyond a gamer to be involved with Hive, although you will inevitably get involved with other tokens/blog posts about your blockchain gaming, to earn more for your blockchain gaming haha. Until then you can just play to earn... more than you can say about any mainstream video game out there currently. One day we will see a game console that runs on blockchain and pays you for your efforts in the game. Will it be run on Hive? Yes... one of them will.
Image Source
Unparalleled Networking & Focused Exposure Extension
There are many ways to communicate via messaging in parallel with Hive, including the newly installed "bee-chat" located directly on the Peakd frontend. Historically, custom Discord servers were always the spot to discuss specific topics of interest, host voice-chat shows, virtual music sets, and raffles, but lately I have noticed more and more projects moving their chat-spaces over to Telegram, which makes sense in a lot of ways.
Image Source
The point here is that I have never in my life experienced a space where I have met so many not only like minded, but POWERFUL humans, so driven to do so many different and amazing things. I have made friends on Hive that I intend to hold in my life forever, and others that have been incredible resources for services such as graphic design and help with understanding new and exciting aspects of the platform. That, in combination with the ridiculous exponential focused promotion from your regular following, personal internet friend following, and all the various front ends your posts could potentially land on, makes for quite the networking-exposure coalition.
A Truly Symbiotic & Constantly Evolving Ecosystem
Best Synergism I have ever experienced anywhere! Nothing even comes close. I will break it down with a simple analogy: Bitcoin introduced blockchain technology to the world - Hive pushed the tech to its limits, asking "just how much can we do with this?". We are all still asking this question in various ways every day. There is always more volume of useful projects, and higher quality of them as well, constantly re-calibrating and fine tuning this exceptionally well designed technology, a machine that needs no oil, and runs on the power of those that wish to be here to provide it.
Gif by: @derangedvisions
For those of you still "comfortable" suffering the addiction to poverty with big banks while being intoxicated by nostalgia, remember - crypto doesn't have any free lollipops for you... only free money.
Links for Free Crypto Earning Accounts
| Splinterlands - Gaming | Hive - Blogging | Odysee - Video | Actifit - Fitness |
Links to Vital Crypto Resources
| Simpleswap - Cheapest Crypto Trade Fees | Presearch - Crypto Earning Search Engine |
| Purse - Web-Crypto Purchase Discounts |
Enchanted Blessings - with Love, Truth, Respect, & Honor - @ELAmental.
| Purse - Web-Crypto Purchase Discounts |
Enchanted Blessings - with Love, Truth, Respect, & Honor - @ELAmental.