I know the title is a bit clickbaity and the claim seems outrageous. However, looking at some numbers and throwing in some fundamental analysis, I think I can show that it is not outside the realm of possibilities.
Now I don't see a 100x too likely during this bullrun. Though you never know with crypto. In 2017 Hive (aka. Steem before the fork to Hive) went from 90 cents in November to a peak of $8 in early January 2018. Almost a 10x in just 2 months.
If similar parabolic move happens in the current bullrun, I will be ready with my liquid HIVE so that I can buy back a bigger stake cheaper.
But that was besides the point. Now, some numbers.
So at the moment Hive's market cap is about 300 Million dollars, giving a single unit of Hive a current valuation of about 80 cents. So for the price to 100x to $80, the market cap has to 100x as well to 30 Billion with the current supply. It sounds like a lot, and it surely would put Hive in the top 15 coins by market cap.
It's a long way there from rank 274. However, Hive won't need to become a top 15 crypto to achieve that 30 Billion because in the future the top cryptos will be valued a whole lot of more as the industry progresses and captures more value.
Just 8 years ago all cryptos combined were only a single Billion. Now it's 3 Trillion. Just a mere 3000x in eight years. See that bump in the middle of the chart? That was the 2017/2018 bubble. The industry is growing crazy fast.
Just a conservative 10x from here would put Hive's market cap to 3 Billion. There are already dozens of cryptos with 3 Billion+ market cap. That would give a single HIVE a price of $8.
I could live with that, too.
Obviously, just because other coins have big market cap, it isn't reason enough that Hive will have too. That's why I'll list few points in my mind that I think make Hive attractive, thus fueling the growth of the ecosystem.
1. Splinterlands
No doubt, Splinterlands has seen massive success recently with 400 000 daily active players, being the number 1 used blockchain based application when measured with active players, and having the card marketcap in the 200 000 Million+ last time I checked. The game is developing constantly with new features and card sets.
Powered up HIVE is needed to play the game and to make transactions, so the more players, the more demand for HIVE.
Hive is an excellent platform to build applications because of its zero fees which makes it particularly attractive for micro-transactions.
2. Community that cannot be bought
When Justin sun bought Steemit Inc and performed his attack with the stake he acquired in possession of Steemit, the community who were against centralization of power, left and forked into what we here know as Hive today. Decentralization was enhanced and the Steemit Inc stake is now used as a decentralized development fund.
The community withstanding this attack was such a big deal that even Vitalik Buterin, known for creating Ethereum, has talked about it several times on Twitter and his blog.
Looking at the current market cap of Steem (240 Million), I think we can truly say now that we have overtaken Steem and Justin's attempt to centralize power.
A lot of crypto personalities preach about the community and its importance. What more solid community is there than one that has not only survived a centralized attack, but is thriving after that?
Hive is a real world example of a community that cannot be bought.
3. Stable(ish) coin that cannot be banned
HBD (Hive backed dollar) isn't quite stable, sometime howering a bit over and under the actual dollar. It always eventually returns back to dollar though. But it's getting better with some work done to it.
There's some talk in the hoods that governments, especially US, don't like that someone is copying their currency. Whether their gonna ban stable currencies or not, the Hive Backed Dollar is safe from regulation, since it is decentralized on Hive and there's no company to threaten with sanctions. With centralized stable currencies like Tether and USDC there's always a risk that they're gonna be banned, so I wouldn't hold anything in them long term.
Also, there's a 10% interest for HBD nowadays when put into savings. Might be a good place to park some of those crypto gains from the bullrun. There a lot of farms that give much better yield, but safety-wise, I think Hive is a rock solid option to park dry gun powder.
4. LeoFinance
I cannot go without mentioning LeoFinance which is a community on Hive that has evolved into its own thing, introducing Hive users to DeFi with Cub on Binance Smart Chain and soon into Polygon with their airdrop to CUB holders. Have some extra ETH or BTC lying around doing nothing? Just park it on a Kingdrom on CubFinance and let it compound while farming Cub tokens.
LeoFinance is the only community that I browse regularly and whose own dedicated website I browse. Have to mention the fact that despite the wLEO liquidity pool being hacked back in the day, LeoFinance refunded all the ETH and LEO that users lost on the hack, me included.
Legit.
Chasing mega wins
With big bull runs and having witnessed what SHIBA pulled off, the greed and FOMO gets off the charts with people wanting to get on the next Shiba and get that quick 100x. The problem with chasing though, is that you usually find that 100x coin when it already has pumped – which means you're already too late. You'd have to get on the train before your coin goes trending, because there's simply less upside to a coin that has already gone parabolic. Not to forget the obvious: you risk getting rugpulled and losing your money. Look no further than SQUID – the irony is strong with this one.
Now I do have my eye open for the memecoins and I will speculate with a tiny amount if I capture something early before hype like I did with DOGE. But most of my attention I put into looking for something legit.
The most reliable way to get the 100x is to look long on something that over the years is going to capture value instead of short-term hype. Hive really seems to fit that category, in my somewhat biased opinion. It has the most active blockchain game and the most hardcore battle-tested community. Yet it is comparably tiny when looking the market cap. A lot of upside with this one. No guarantees though, that's something to keep in mind.
