First, let me say Happy Hive Hard Fork Day, everyone! We've achieved Equilibrium without any major issues, thanks to all the hard work done by the @hiveio Witnesses, developers, and others behind the scenes. Lots of appreciation to everyone who keeps our blockchain home running smooth & I'm wicked excited to see how all the new changes work out!

And now, while technically in my little corner of the world there's still a handful of hours left in June (I'm posting this at about 8pm EST), #HivePUD for July 1st 2021 has already arrived in other parts of the world. If you want a super cool way to check if it's officially in your area according to UTC time (which is how the Hive Buzz badges are determined), be sure to check out the "new" (as of September 2020) Countdown Timer courtesy of the awesomesauce team at @hivebuzz!

And to clarify:

If you want to qualify for the AMAZING Hive Power Up Day badge(s), your power up must happen during the 24 hours of July 1st, 2021 according to UTC time.

And/or

If you want to qualify for the #HivePUD prize pool, your power up and post must happen (according to criteria listed below) during the hours of July 1st, your local time.

Since I already did a rundown of it all in the announcement post last week, I'll stick with a short & sweet recap this time around.

EDITED TO ADD: While I usually leave out the prize listings in this post, I wanted to remind everyone that I'm doing a special drawing to celebrate 12 months of running the #HivePUD initiative! As I said on Twitter a few minutes ago:

♦️Power up & post a #blog with the tag(s) #HivePUD (and or #HPUD) on July 1st
♦️All (qualified & not qualified for usual #prize pool) will be entered in a drawing.
♦️12 will win 25 Powered Up $HIVE each!

(I also edited out a couple of Junes & replaced with Julys, thanks to a nudge from @plantstoplanks - appreciate you looking out for me, dear lady! 💜)

And starting next month, this post might be even shorter with a link to an upcoming Hive Power Up Day FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) post, and the rewards for this will be delegated to others (still figuring out who...lol). But for now...

What is Hive Power Up Day?

Hive Power Up Day has been taking place since @streetstyle came up with the idea on that other blockchain back in April 2019. Essentially we all get together and power up (stake) our Hive on the first day of every month, and some offer prizes to smaller accounts to help them grow.

What does it require?

Essentially, we ask that:

On the first day of the month...

... anyone who is able to, powers up some Hive on the first of the month.

... accounts that are powering down, pause during the 24 hour span of the first of the month.

... anyone who is trading/selling Hive, pause those transactions during the 24 hour span of the first of the month (and possibly even cancel any type of sell order on any exchanges during that time as well).

What are the rules to win prizes for HivePUD?

The requirements are:

Your reputation must be above 39 and below 70.
Your total Hive Power (before the 1st) must be more than 100 and less than 8000.
You must power up at least 10 Hive on July 1st.
You must write a post about your power up on July 1st with the tag #HivePUD (International) or #HPUD (Spanish).

To be included in the winners list, you must meet all four requirements above. The order of the list (first place, second place, and so on) will be determined by the biggest PERCENTAGE of Hive powered up, not necessarily the most Hive powered up.

For more information about @victoriabsb's excellent Hispanic Initiative that ensures that the smallest accounts (who might not be able to make the requirements above) are still able to get some prizes, check out her announcement post for this month, Recordatorio: Hive Power UP Day 📅 1ero de JULIO 2021 💪 Reglas & Premios [ENG/ESP] || #HPUD .

What are the prizes?

The list of prizes, both confirmed & not confirmed (although I'm pretty sure they've all got a green check mark), are in the aforementioned announcement post last week.

Did I hear something about badges?

Yep, the wicked awesomesauce team behind @hivebuzz totally upped their Hive badge game with their support of Hive Power Up Day! Check out their latest post - Hive Power Up Day - July 1st 2021 - Hive Power Delegation for details, and "bee" sure to follow them on Hive and Twitter so you don't miss out on future awesomeness.

Timeline Reminder

Power up Hive on July 1st 2021
Post about your power up on July 1st 2021
Unofficial winners list will be posted July 3rd or 4th (allowing time to correct for errors/omissions)
Official winners list will be posted on July 5th, after which sponsors will disperse prizes

That's it for now!

Thanks to everyone for all you do to make our new blockchain space a home! Special shout out to @abh12345 for always graciously agreeing to help by sending me the raw data when the time comes - Asher, you're a ROCKSTAR! And here's to another awesomesauce Hive Power Up Day!