Hive accounts are unique and human readable. Some will claim that each account is a specific NFT. There is a lot of truth to that. Because of these unique and human readable names, Hive accounts come at cost. When a new account is created it needs to be stored forever on the blockchain. Unlike BTC or ETH where accounts are in a random format of symbols and letters, on Hive users choose their names. Ethereum even has a specific app, the ENS domains, that is used to create human readable ETH addresses.
This initial cost is somewhat an entry barrier for new accounts, but apps are mitigating this. Apps like Splinterlands, InLeo, Ecency etc, all offer accounts to their users. Let’s take a look at the new Hive accounts creation in the last period.
There are now 2.56M Hive accounts. Unlike the other blockchains like BTC or ETH, Hive has human readable account names. This comes at a cost as the chain needs to store these values forever. That’s why the Hive accounts are not free and unlimited to mint, as each of them is a type of NFT.
Creating Hive accounts is the costliest operation on the blockchain. Hive accounts can be minted from the current HP holders using RCs credits if they have enough HP/RCs. Otherwise, they can be minted with HIVE at a cost of 3 HIVE per account. This cost is set by the witnesses.
The option for creating accounts with RCs, or sometimes perceived as the free accounts require users to first claim account as an account token, that can be then used for creating accounts. Not all claimed accounts are created. Claimed accounts are not transferable yet.
Here we will be looking into the following:
- Number of accounts created per day
- Number of accounts created per month and year
- HIVE burned for creating accounts
- Total accounts created
- Claimed VS Created accounts
- Top accounts creators
- Top accounts claims
For context we will be looking at the period from the very beginning of the chain, March 2016 till today., with a focus on 2025.
Number of Accounts Created
Here is the chart for the overall accounts created.
Here we can see the two spikes in the overall period of Hive existence. First in 2017, especially towards the end of 2017 and the beginning of 2018.
The second spike is in September 2021 where on occasions there were more than 20k accounts created in a day. This was because of the demand for accounts coming from Splinterlands at the time.
We can notice that in the last period the number of new accounts has dropped.
If we zoom in 2024-2025 we get this:
A smaller number of daily accounts created in 2024, with almost a steady rate in the range of 100 to 200 per day, with occasional spikes. The occasional spikes are up to 500 per accounts per day, except for the end of December 2024 when there is a spike up to 2k new accounts per day. This is a low number of accounts creation compared even with the previous bear market.
Also we can notice a small spike at the end of the chart probably due to the recent onboardings on Talent Land in Mexico.
The monthly chart for new accounts looks like this:
A similar pattern as for the daily chart, with a bit clearer representation.
We can see the spikes back in 2017 and 2018 and again in September-October 2021. The chart here is cut off at 100k max, but in September 2021 there was a record high of 276k accounts created in a month.
In 2024 the number of accounts created per month is around 5k.
When we zoom in we get this:
We can see the spike in December when there was 18k accounts created in the period. I guess it was some of the InLeo campaigns that created a lot of accounts in the period.
On a yearly basis we have this:
The record high year in creating new accounts has been 2021 when there were 910k accounts created. In the last year, 2024, there was 64k accounts created in the year, slightly higher than the previous 2023 when there was 48k accounts created and it is a record low year for new accounts.
Total Accounts Created
When we sum up the above, we get this.
We can see here the increase in the numbers of accounts in 2017, when the accounts number reached more than 1M. Then a period with a gradual increase and then even steeper growth in 2021, and afterwards a slowdown.
At the moment there are 2.56M Hive accounts.
HIVE Burned for Creating Accounts
As mentioned above there is a cost for the HIVE accounts, RCs, or 3 HIVE. Here is the chart for the HIVE burned for creating accounts.
This is an all-time chart, starting from 2016.
Cumulative there is 4.55M HIVE burned for creating accounts in the whole period.
We can notice the sharp growth back in September 2021, this again because of the demand for HIVE accounts for Splinterlands. Almost 2M HIVE was burned back then.
Since then, the line has been almost flat. In 2024 a total of 10k HIVE was burned for creating new accounts, out of which the @hive-recovery account is dominant with 2k HIVE burned.
Claimed VS Created Accounts
Claimed accounts are like sort of a buffer of accounts. Accounts with high HP claim accounts that later can be used for accounts creation. Not all claimed accounts are created.
Here is the chart for claimed VS created accounts.
There as some oscillations in the number of claimed accounts per day, but overall, the number is around 2100 accounts claimed daily.
The number of accounts created can vary a lot, but as seen above in 2024 we are far below the 2k daily accounts claimed now, and this number is around 200.
Around 5M accounts were claimed, while somewhere around 1.5M accounts tokens have been used. This means that users on Hive hold more than 3M creation tokens.
Top Accounts Creators
Here is who created most of the accounts in the period of December 2024 till now. I have included December in the period because of the spike in new accounts creation that happened back then.
The @leo.voter account is at the top in the period with 18k new accounts created. On the second spot, close to the first one is @ocdb followed by @appreciator.
@steemmonsters, the formal absolute champion in creating accounts is in the fifth place, although I’m not sure do they use other accounts as well.
Top Accounts Claims
At the end the chart for who has claimed most of the accounts.
This chart mostly follows the HP holdings that the accounts have.
@appreciator is on the top, followed by @blocktrades and @ecency.
All the best
@dalz