Hive is changing lives. We already know this.
There are a lot of ways that Hive is penetrating the lives of people. It is also at the front of the Web 3.0 revolution. Many disagree with this sentiment but in watching what is taking place, we can see things starting to come together.
We have to acknowledge there is a paradigm shift taking place. The march towards Web 3.0 is giving everyone the opportunity to become a business. Think about that for a second. Your Hive account is actually a business you can operate. Through activity, one can be rewarded in many different ways. And the number of options just keeps growing.
Many are asking what is a Hive account worth? This is a worthwhile discussion to have. If we consider what is taking place, the account management system on Hive really stands out.
The same can be said for the potential.
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One Account, Many Applications
We know the Internet is full of serious contract creators. They are all over YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter. These are people who carry influence in their particular field. Many are celebrities or media personalities. Regardless of the size of following, content creators seek to engage with those people.
The challenge is that each platform is a silo. Hence, time is spent trying to cross pollinate the other ones. People will use Twitter to get their followers to sign up on YouTube. They will post on Facebook to provide their Twitter account. This requires a lot of time.
Of course, the situation is worse when a new platform pops up like TikTok. Now the seasoned social media/content creator has to start from scratch.
With Hive, do it once and you are done. The followers are the same no matter which application is utilized. If a new one pops up, it is suddenly populated like all other applications.
The reason for this is that followers are tied to the account, not the application. They are stored at the base layer with whatever is being utilized simply reading what the blockchain has.
How much is this worth?
Decentralized Finance
Decentralized Finance (DeFi) is seriously altering things. In fact, we can see how this is going to overtake the entire financial system. We are in the very early stages yet the plumbing is starting to go into place. With infrastructure comes a great deal more innovation. The established system simply cannot stand up to the onslaught it is about to face.
Everyone is going to be a part of this in the future. However, to be inclusive, a system needs to develop whereby those without the investing resources can get started. This is something that Hive is already starting to provide. Through the different reward systems, activity can provide someone with the resources to get involved in the DeFi arena.
Of course, some applications are already building DeFi into their platforms. This is a trend that will likely continue.
We also need to keep in mind that, as digital assets start to remake the wholesale banking system, accounts are going to become premium. Essentially, we are going to see the value of an immutable, permission-less, transparent ledger that is decentralized explode.
Once the settlement ability of Hive is fully realized, there will be a lot of interest in building on top of it.
Of course, to engage with the blockchain, one needs a Hive account.
Freemium Model
Many applications are starting to integrate the ability to sign up with different accounts. For example, the idea of using a Facebook account to engage on Hive is being used to help the onboarding process.
What this does is allows people to sign up instantly to engage. Leofinance is one of the applications doing this. We also see the SpkNetwork looking to integrate Ceramic accounts into their system. Of course, neither of these allows one to engage with the blockchain.
For some, simply performing tasks through a proxy account or posting data off chain might be acceptable. However, there are no rewards under this scenario. Nor does one have any stake in the ecosystem. For this to occur, one needs to get a Hive account.
It appears that one idea is to post via a proxy account and tally the rewards. When one has amassed enough money to pay for the Hive account, then he or she can "claim" it. This is a sensible way for applications to onboard new users for free while helping them to get to the point of "Hive status".
After all, if anyone can come to Hive and, over time, earn $100 (in addition to everything else) then the Hive account is certainly worth $5.
Use Case For HBD
A lot of focus is upon the Hive Backed Dollars (HBD). At this point, use cases are required.
When looking at the ecosystem, why not make HBD part of the most basic of operations tied to Hive? Getting an account is the starting point for all engagement with the blockchain. By placing HBD here, we are giving it a baseline use case.
HBD will be required to get a Hive account.
This will force popular applications to hold liquid HBD in their wallets to pay for the accounts as needed. Certainly, many are claiming the free accounts that are available each day from holding HP. However, that is not going to sustain the growth that many expect to occur in the future.
Community Benefit
The reason why accounts are free online is because platforms have other ways of monetizing. In short, users become the product since their data is harvested and they are blasted with advertisements. We all know this is taking place and it is why the Facebooks and Googles of the world can give things away.
Web 3.0 is not of that mode. Here we have the data on the blockchain, outside the control of any one group.
Ultimately, this becomes a situation of who owns the network? That falls to the stake holders. For this reason, Hive account creation fees are used to generate revenue that benefits the community.
At the moment, the fee is 3 HIVE that is burnt. Here we see the idea of treating the coin like stock: reduce the number outstanding to increase the price. Of course, the flipside is we are burning money.
Why not put it to a better use? We can charge 5 HBD per account and that money can be used in one of two ways:
Send the HBD to the Decentralized Hive Fund (DHF) which is a community DAO that funds projects which benefit Hive.
Start the process of incentivizing people to power up HIVE by generating a better return. The fees paid could be forwarded to those staking in the form of HP, just like we see with inflation.
This might not seem like much now but imagine a time where there are 100 million accounts. In the social media world, this is a small number yet would equate to 500 million HBD. That is a nice chunk of change either going into the DHF or into the HP holders wallets.
More importantly, it is a small number in the financial world also.
In Conclusion
There is a lot of effort and work being done to make Hive valuable. The most basic unit in this equation is the Hive account. If we get some breakthroughs with a few applications, we could see a radically shift in usage. We regularly discuss the different projects with potential. Over the next 6 months, it is likely one of them breaks out.
For this reason, we have to understand the value of a Hive account and what we are offering. Why should we give something away for free when it have value? With all that is taking place, it is likely that 5 HBD is still a giveaway. As stated, if each person can generate even $100 off the account, is that worth 5 HBD?
Do you think someone putting in $100K to get 20% APR on HBD would be willing to couth up $5?
As the ecosystem grows, it is a way to generate a positive feedback loop to those who are involved and supporting Hive.
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