I am done with my subjective exploration of whales' accounts. Though the data is the same and accessible to all Hivians, the interpretation would vary, for the data have their historical contexts that are not easy to decipher.
I am writing this post not because I am anti-whale. Despite the hostility of many against big stakes, whales are necessary for the growth of a blockchain network like Hive. Besides, one way or another, many Hivians dream to become whales someday.
Personal Journey on Hive
However, our situations are not the same. Despite the claim of those who say that nothing is impossible for those who want to achieve their dreams, we still cannot change the fact that there are people who are limited in terms of their age and resources.
With limited resources and time, the best thing a man turning 60 two years from now can do in terms of his goal is to achieve at least an Orca status 5 to 8 years from now. I gained dolphin status on 21 April 2024, three days before my 57th birthday. It took me two years and eight months to achieve this. God willing, five to eight years more, the new goal is to become an orca.
Observations from Whale Accounts
To achieve the above goal, I need to learn from whales and orcas on Hive. Since there are too many orcas—270 the last time I checked—exploring the accounts of 40 whales is easier.
After studying the whales' accounts, I came up with tentative conclusions. Out of 40, I found 8 worthy to follow and 4 to avoid. We should be careful not to call attention to the second group, lest we suffer the consequences of their hostility. On the other hand, the example of the first group of whales provides the backbone for what is Hive now. I don't think Hive will reach the current status it now has without their hard work, stakes, and commitment.
Another observation is that more than half of the whales are not into content creation. One account is just delegating HIVE. The majority seemed to stop because of what happened in the past. Nevertheless, the good thing is that despite the negativity of a few, they are still holding huge HP, and that is good.
My third observation is that 8 accounts were created with special purposes in mind. One is for crypto exchange. The second one is the Hive account of Hive Engine. I started to appreciate this account, for I see Hive Engine as very useful, especially for second-layer tokens. Still, another is related to HBD stabilizers and DHF. Moreover, three accounts are connected to Splinterlands. This tells me that the rise of Splinterlands to prominence on Hive is not accidental. It is intentional and supported by huge stakes.
My final observation is related to HBD savings. Out of 40 whales, these are the top 10 HBD savers:
- lazy-panda - 2M
- sps.dao - 143,254
- mika - 96,368
- blocktrades - 52,685
- steemmonsters - 12,648
- smooth - 10,371
- somecallmejake - 4,663
- roadscape - 2,672
Out of the above 10 accounts, I find two very impressive. somecallmejake joined Hive in November 2023 and has 593k HP. I don't know how long it took for him to achieve whale status or if he just purchased that huge quantity of HIVE on the market on day one.
When it comes to earning interest from HBD savings, lazy-panda is the best example. Imagine earning 30,000 HBD per month. That's impressive! In Philippine pesos, 2M HBD is worth 100M PHP plus, and 30,000 HBD is approximately equivalent to 1.5M PHP. That is huge money!
In the Philippine Stock Exchange, a publicly listed company with a 100 million to 1 billion market capitalization is considered a micro-cap. Of course, the market cap is different from savings. I just compare HBD savings to market cap for us to see how big Hive is. Many Hivians are now familiar with the idea of Hive as a business. If we follow this line of reasoning, we could say that in the crypto world, Hive is no small business given the fact that only one account can make a 100 million PHP savings.
My key takeaway here is to set my own HBD goal. The ideal number for me is 40,000 HBD, and that will give you an interest rate of 30,000 PHP every month. In a Philippine setting, with that amount, you are good for retirement. That's far better than the amount you will receive from the Social Security System (SSS). The challenge is, how can you come up with 40,000 HBD savings in 5 to 8 years?