What is actually a hard asset? Well, according to google:
A hard asset is a tangible or physical item or resource that an individual or company owns. Often, the value of hard assets moves in the opposite direction of the value of soft assets, creating a buffer against losses.
source
But what is a soft asset, then?
Soft assets are those generally differentiated from hard assets such as plant and machinery, vehicles, and commercial property, but which typically have little or no resale value. Soft assets can sometimes include intangible assets as well. This may be a brand, a specific team member's knowledge, or cloud storage
source
These two definitions apply most often to traditional stocks and assets and one could say that Bitcoin and cryptocurrency is somehow of a soft asset, cuz you can't touch it or feel it. It's not phisical.
Some maxis do consider Bitcoin a hard asset and although I haven't bothered much digging into the logic of such affirmation I would call it a hard asset as well and let me explain why.
Bitcoin is intended to be "the new money", a form of e-cash that does not involve any third party interrfering in its internal transactions, utilising a decentralized blockchain for securing the network and all coin trsansfers. It was basically designed to replace fiat money. The traditional cash is actually printed out of thin air and has no actual intrinsic value other than the one that we gave it.
It's long since money, as we know it, has decoupled from the gold standard, thus we can call the bills that we run after so bad as being nothing more than monopoly money. Bitcoin is capped at 21 million coins, no one "owns the network or has ability to mint outside of the protocols laws", it's decentralized and so far the network has never been down.
That imo makes it a "hard asset" or better said, the first authentic form of money humanity has ever had. I say that because never in history, the masses have had the chance to participate in the creation/minting of a form of currency at such a large scale and probably never in history has ever existed a form of cash that's not creatd by governments or any others sort of centralized entities.
Is it HIVE a hard asset?
I don't know, couldn't put a stance on this one, but would like to hear from you if you see it as a hard asset.
Thanks for attention,
Adrian