As we all know, witnesses are the backbone of the Hive platform, the unsung heroes who ensure everything runs smoothly. They operate critical nodes that keep the platform alive and thriving. Without witnesses, Hive wouldn’t exist, and without us, there would be no content to share and engage with, which is why we need to get familiar with who our witnesses are.
That's why I've created this special edition of "Meet Our Hive Witnesses."
This interview series aims to connect with our witnesses, giving you a closer look at the people who keep Hive running. We’ll dive into their work, motivations, and insights through a series of thoughtful questions.
It is the twelfth edition of Meet Our Hive Witnesses Interview and before I continue with the introduction of the next witness that has honoured us to be interviewed, I'd like to say that, as a Hive user who want to see this platform continue to grow and flourish, we all have 30 votes to cast for any Hive witness of our choice and I will say this is the most important 30 votes you will ever cast on this platform for any witnesses that you deem it fit.
This week, I am deeply honoured to shine the spotlight on @yabapmatt a pioneering figure in Hive’s history and innovation. As the creator of Splinterlands, Hive Keychain, and Hive Engine, he’s not just building on Hive; he’s building Hive itself. Since around 2017/2018, his witness journey has been about deep commitment, technical resilience, and ecosystem-wide value creation. From surviving the Steem hostile takeover to shaping Hive’s future through visionary tools and apps, @yabapmatt has been a pillar of growth and decentralization. He believes witnesses are investments from the community, and his work continues to return that value exponentially. If you believe in apps driving adoption, innovation fueling purpose, and blockchain backed by builders—not buzz—then this is a witness who needs your vote.
Welcome to my interview, it is a great honour to have you here on the show this week @yabapmatt
Thanks, below are the answers:Yabapmatt
1 What motivated you to become a Hive witness, and how long have you been serving in that role?
@yabapmatt I don't remember exactly when I first started my witness node (maybe someone can look it up for me) but it was around the end of 2017 / early 2018.
I was motivated to become a witness because I had become heavily invested in the platform (both in time and money) and I wanted to learn about and participate in every aspect of it, so running a witness node to seemed like an obvious step in order to contribute to the network.
2 What do you believe is the core responsibility of a Hive witness, and how do you personally fulfill it?
@yabapmatt The ecosystem as a whole is effectively investing in each witness, so I think the responsibility of each witness is to provide a positive return on that investment back to the ecosystem. There are many different ways to do that, and I have focused on building tools and applications that help to bring in more users and more investment.
3 Can you explain how your witness node is set up and what infrastructure you use to keep it running securely and reliably?
@yabapmatt I prefer not to discuss the details of the set up and hosting, but I do work with someone who is very experienced that helps me ensure that my node runs securely and reliably, even when I am not available.
4 What challenges have you encountered as a witness, and how have you worked to overcome them?
@yabapmatt Fortunately there have not been many challenges in many years since the hostile takeover of the Steem blockchain. That was probably the most challenging possible situation that the top witnesses could find themselves in.
Ultimately, it was overcome by forking the chain and creating what is now the Hive blockchain. I believe we are the only blockchain platform that has dealt with and overcome something like that which is one of the main reasons why many of us here believe so strongly in this ecosystem.
5 What specific contributions have you made to the Hive ecosystem outside of maintaining your node?
@yabapmatt In addition to building and running Splinterlands, I also initially designed and funded the creation of the Hive Keychain browser extension as well as the Hive Engine platform.
6 In your opinion, what differentiates a great witness from an average one on Hive?
@yabapmatt Like I said above, I look at each witness as an investment by the ecosystem and differentiate them by how much value they have returned to the ecosystem. Great witnesses are ones that have obviously provided much more back to the ecosystem than they have earned in block rewards.
7 How do you engage with the Hive community, and what should users know about the importance of witness voting?
@yabapmatt Unfortunately I have not directly engaged with the Hive community as much as I would like in recent years, but I do try to do things like this Q&A, some podcasts / spaces, and I did attend HiveFest in Croatia last year. Aside from that I generally try to be open and available for chat/questions in Discord.
As for the importance of witness voting, Hive is a completely community owned and operated platform (unlike almost every other blockchain platform), and witness voting is the primary way for the community to participate in the platform's operation.
8 What are your top priorities or goals for Hive’s future, and how are you helping achieve them?
@yabapmatt I think the future of Hive (and any similar platform) is going to be in the applications that are built on it, so I think that the top priority for Hive should be to get as many high quality applications built here as possible and to promote them heavily. I am doing this as much as I can with Splinterlands, but I hope to see many other teams developing and marketing many other high quality apps on Hive in the future.
9 Do you support any particular proposals or improvements on Hive? If so, why are they important to you?
@yabapmatt I like to support proposals that help fund app development on the platform, which should make sense considering what I've said above. Obviously we, as a community, need to be careful to make sure we're backing good teams that have a real shot at success, but generally I look at the DHF like a venture fund that we can utilize to help bootstrap getting applications built on the platform. People need to understand that 90%+ of them will probably fail (which is normal), but it's important to continue to do it so that we can hit that 10% that make a difference.
10 What do you think Hive witnesses should do better collectively to improve the blockchain?
@yabapmatt Build apps or help them get built and then help promote them like crazy!
11 How transparent are you with your operations, and where can users track your performance or contributions?
@yabapmatt My contribution is through my work at Splinterlands at this point, and people can easily follow that on our Hive blog - @splinterlands.
12 What do you wish more Hive users understood about how witnesses work or what witnesses do?
@yabapmatt I think most people think that witnesses have a lot more power than they actually do. I've seen a lot of anger toward the witnesses in the past when people don't like something about how the system works, but really all of the power is with the Hive Power holders (which is how it's supposed to be). There is also no secret / inside group or anything like that. We're all just regular people with very diverse views who are all trying to contribute to the ecosystem in our own ways.
13 Have there been any moments where you had to take a difficult decision as a witness? If yes, what was it?
@yabapmatt There were many difficult decisions during and shortly after the Steem hostile takeover. For example, the decision to freeze the SteemIt stake was difficult and very controversial, and then figuring out which accounts should or should not receive the HIVE airdrop when the new chain launched which led to a lot of heated arguments for months afterwards. Luckily things have gone very smoothly since then and we haven't had any significant decisions to make in many years.
14 Are there any technical or political limitations that restrict your ability to contribute more as a witness?
@yabapmatt Not that I'm aware of!
15 Why should people vote for you as a witness, what makes your witness stand out from others?
@yabapmatt As I've stated above, I look at the witnesses as an investment made by the ecosystem, since a decent portion of the HIVE token inflation is paid out to them. So, I would say that people should vote for me as a witness if they feel that I will continue to provide more value back to the ecosystem in the future as compared to other available witnesses.
It is so awesome finally having a chat with you @yabapmatt
Thanks so much for creating time for meet our Hive witness. Have a wonderful day 🤝🏻
You're welcome.
NB: those were @yabapmatt exact words to the interview questions. Nothing was changed.
PROMOTING AND INTERVIEWING HIVE WITNESSES IS ALL I DO
Special thanks to @resonator @canadian-coconut @felixxx @ausbitbank @familyprotection @sanjeevm @gogreenbuddy @solominer @fedesox @trafalgar @yeouido.park @balte @xeldal @deepresearch @fw206 and everyone who has been supporting my interview. Thanks to you all.
You can read more about @yabapmatt here
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