This is a monthly personal digest of what I enjoy writing about on what I find across the blockchain technology and networks. The information here presented is based on my research and opinions, therefore can exhibit errors or mistakes that I would very much like to correct. This serves also as a binding method to the value and effort protection of my own opinions throughout the blockchain network.
😍 My own water-cooled version of a USB scrypt miner assembled in 2018
What am I writing about this month!
- A new path to my 🤑Crypto-Hobbies
1.1 What content will I share? - Games on the #HIVE Blockchain!
2.1 dCity
2.1.1 BEESwap
2.1.2 CityHelper - #HIVE Blockchain Tools
3.1 Vessel
3.2 Hive-Keychain
3.3 Block Explorers
3.4 Hive-Engine Explorers - Storage based BlockChains
4.1 Storj - Previous publications
- Sponsors
- Contacting me
- Are you looking for any Crypto 💳Cards?
- Do you 🔎find this ℹ️nformation helpful?
1. A new path to my 🤑Crypto-Hobbies
This is the first time I really feel like shifting the value and skills I have on crypto, into hopefully something more quality-based, that would reach out more users and facilitate them with more information about this Era of blockchain technology. At the same time, this helps me find where I wanna go into the future, with my hobbies.
1.1 What content will I share?
The intention is simple, instead of writing several posts every time I find something interesting or worth sharing, I compile all that knowledge in a single post, allowing me first, to put a bit more thought on it, and secondly to allow the information I find some time to shape more accurately.
Things on the blockchain change pretty quick and sometimes holding your breath a bit longer, gives you a different perspective of what you have found.
2. Games on the #HIVE Blockchain!
2.1 dCity
One of the most under the hood "unnoticed" games that initially arrived on the STEEM blockchain just before "shit hit the fan"... Now successfully migrated to the #HIVE blockchain.
Spawned by @gerber with others helping the cause, such as @mysys and @zaxan (if I missed someone, let me know, to add). The game is progressively evolving into a great success!
dCity is a "Card" based game that allows you to build a city alike economy. You can buy cards with #HIVE or SIM token, the game currency you will daily receive once you buy your first card (some cards generate SIM token). Alternatively, you can also trade your cards for any tokens available at the Hive-Engine platform.
If you wanna meet the community, ask any questions or find more before you give it a try, I would recommend you to try the Discord server.
From my end, a big THANK YOU for the so far amazing experience and the great achievement of migrating this game to the #HIVE blockchain. Continue the great work with the game development. If I can, I hope to at least help with the user base growth.
Ranking of Megacities (as of 25/04/2020)
This month I reached the top10!
The Ranking of Megacities is one big attraction of the game as it rewards players with HIVE and STEEM weekly based on your city population.
I personally didn't believe I could sustain my place over there, but so far, I was able to make it for two consecutive weeks. But I can tell you, it's not cheap! But still, lots of fun when you get to such a nice place.
New players will probably emerge, but for now (on the snapshot of 25/04/2020), its @dustindivitto, @diverse, @themightyvolcano, @rollandthomas, @abrockman, @fantasycrypto and then me!
Emerging just after me, were @broncnutz, @superlotto and @inri, that most likely will try to overtake me 😆
Rewards are distributed after a photograph (called snapshot) is taken to the blockchain, to record the actual population of everyone. This takes place every Saturdays at around 19 UTC. Then snapshot process is asynchronous I believe and depends on block creation, so don't expect always a sharp timestamp of 19:00:00.000 UTC kind of thing.
Writing a post this long becomes a challenging task to master. Just before posting this, I found that the distribution is changing soon (will become daily), so tune in for the changes and follow @gerber for more updates.
Check the Discord for updated information about this in case it changes.
The Ranking is also updated daily (around 19 UTC too) for you to keep tracking the evolution of you and other players. Also, if you click on any shown player of the ranking, it will display that city current state. It's a convenient feature if you are strategically fighting for a specific position.
Upcoming new features
Development on the blockchain, improvements and other bug-fixing is something really hard to "estimate" when it's ready for release. So, many things might change or evolve differently on a weekly basis. Definitely check in every month at least, if you are just interested in finding news. Otherwise, have fun on a daily basis like me.
The upcoming changes are going to be exciting! Looks like some new "upgrades" and possibly new cards are coming out, also governments are going to allow you to vote for a "President" that will change some "laws" about the game attributes and likely some other tweaks.
More reasons?
Well, the discord server is getting quite popular and very active for both newcomers and hefty investors. Besides the fact of you being able to trade any card for any Hive-Engine token, lots of other creative events can emerge from any players. Look for example this one from @diverse where I just won a Bank card by answering a sort of riddle.
Make sure to be around and if you can, invite others to try the game too.
2.1.1 BEESwap
BEESwap is an exchange tool developed and supported by the creators of dCity. This is a competitive alternative to the Hive-Engine and Steem-Engine 1% fee for all deposits and withdrawals.
It uses SteemConnect and HiveSign to broadcast transactions, it is an easy way to convert STEEM/HIVE between the two blockchains. Remember that you still need to use the Hive-Engine or Steem-Engine to trade the respective trading pair.
The UI is getting better by the day!
In addition to the trading pairs, you can also convert STEEMP (on Steem-Engine) directly to SWAP.STEEM (on Hive-Engine). This makes it easier as you can opt to trade just on one side.
Remember that all transfers are limited to the liquidity of each token/crypto. Check the bits where it says "(X.Y max)" for the maximum amounts before you proceed.
2.1.2 CityHelper
Not reserved to extreme players of dCity, but if you are an advanced player, then you need to check this one out. CityHelper is a bot equipped server that allows you to scale your actions on dCity, created by @mice-k.
After joining the server, check the command help by typing !help over the #cityhelper channel.
The choices are varied, but in resume the best ones for me are:
- Selling mass amounts of cards
- Sending cards to other accounts
- Returning cards from accounts you own
- Cancelling all trades or per card type
For you to use these features you need HiveKeychain. Available also on Play Store and Google Store.
Here is an example:
3. #HIVE Blockchain Tools
3.1 Vessel
This one was (on STEEM) and is the ultimate weapon for survival on #HIVE blockchain. A Desktop client wallet initially developed by @jesta and now forked and maintained by @netuoso.
I had myself, gave it a go, in terms of spinning a development environment, so that I could start contributing, but lately, with the COVID stuff, the time has been burning like LOX+Methane (SpaceX Starship fuel).
To check the latest developments, head out to this GitHub repo.
3.2 Hive-Keychain
This one is truly a "must-have"... it implies that you need to store the keys in the PC that loads this extension, but if you trust that machine, this will be the ultimate experience of this blockchain (HIVE).
Available for Chrome (and derivates, like Brave, etc), Firefox and some other ones if you know how too.
The GitHub repo is this one, maintained by @stoodkev. Thanks mate! I know @yabapmatt helped too, along with others like @quochuy... check them all here.
3.3 Block Explorers
Block explorers are usually web-based tools that allow you to explore the data content of the entire blockchain.
Usually is a medium expensive service to provide, as it requires a front-end node to reply to HTTP requests... So depending on how many requests you have, it will cost more. Plus behind the scenes, you need a node running the full-play of the blockchain database. Not a big deal in terms of resources, but something to consider in terms of disk space at least in the long term.
This one is mostly at the medium-advanced level of the game. Explorers of HIVE blockchain are quite known... but I will give you a list of the first three I use most:
- https://hiveblocks.com/ (by @roadscape with support from @anyx backend)
- https://www.hiveblockexplorer.com/ (by @penguinpablo)
- https://hive-db.com/ (by @jesta) - yes he is around! 😁
I recommend you to check regularly other similar projects at Hive Projects. There is lots more there than what I am giving you here. So better bookmark that Link right away before you forget.
3.4 Hive-Engine Explorers
Just next to the above item, are the Hive-Engine explorers... similar to #HIVE explorers, but in this case, they will show you the transactions within the Engine Platform database. An independent on-top-of-blockchain middleware providing extended functionality to the #HIVE blockchain. For further details, please check posts from @aggroed or check-in at the Discord server.
The ones I currently use:
The Engine Platform explorers allow you to check transactions about tokens, NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) and depending on the UI features, other non-recorded blockchain information like the type of messaging you broadcast, like errors or information that is not consistent to the Engine Platform API.
Personal Opinion
I really think @aggroed is providing a great "Enterprise" level grade of Enhancement to the blockchain. And it would make me a liar if I could not acknowledge that. The product enables a HUGE amount of businesses to invest and create services around the #HIVE blockchain.
That is important, necessary even, but should also be understood as something that its "risks". I mean, in terms of, it can vanish... if there is no way to sustain it.
Blockchains are becoming the ultimate proof of experiencing how security and technology can go along at a superb high-speed development pace.
It becomes "contained" whenever you add applications on top of a blockchain that is not governmentally decentralized. At least to some extent.
I loved Steem-Engine, and I now love Hive-Engine! Hopefully, we can witness an economically viable transition to HMT (Hive Media Tokens) with @aggroed team (my guess) driving the long term technology development.
There is lot's we can do by working together. I have seen that in STEEM, despite all the challenges. After this fork, I see even more promise!
4. Storage based BlockChains
4.1 Storj
Storj is storage blockchain-based solution (using STORJ as a token) accessible to anyone, both as a user or as a service provider. I have decided to dedicate some time to this experiment and share the results of it before deciding on a potential major investment.
Check my latest 2020 posts about how is this experiment going:
5. Previous publications
Reserved for after the first publication.
6. Sponsors
I intend to bring higher value with these posts but I am not going to use bid bots, instead, I am looking for different ways to improve engagement and content creation collaboration that I am providing and support my thrilling views 🤣.
Let me know your ideas, even if all you can do is restricted the usual delegation, donations, cross-posting, reblogging, commenting, upvoting or whatever you feel that best fits your way of showing some appreciation for this work. Your feedback is valuable even if you think you can't help.
Contact me either publicly or privately for further discussions and do tag me 🤩 for a more prompt response.
7. Contacting me
I am reachable via Twitter, LinekedIn, or via public Blockchains as @forykw or @ffoorryykkww (EOS blockchain for example).
8. Are you looking for any Crypto 💳Cards?
Have you heard about some cards I am using (links above my signature bellow) on my daily crypto life? Ask me any questions you may have about them and don't forget to check the rewards on using referrals if you are up to give it a good try when you find which one best suits you.
Here is a comparison (values in US$ unless indicated) about the ones I am using:
| Crypto.com | Crypterium | TenX | Revolut | Wirex | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tokens | MCO and CRO | CRPT | PAY | ? | WXT |
| Card Type | VISA | UnionPay | VISA | VISA | VISA |
| Card CashBack | 1-5% (to MCO) | ? | NA | ? | 0.5-1.5% (to BTC) |
| Card Loading Fees | 1% (direct load) | 0.5% (wallet) | NA | ? | Free (for same currency) |
| Card Cost | Free | $14.99 (non-CRPT Holders) or $9.99 (CRPT Holders) | $10 * | ? | Free |
| Card Maintenance | Free (if > $1000/year) | ? | > 1000 EUR? | ? | ? |
| Referrals | Stake 50 MCO = $50 | $5 (first 50+ EUR trans.) + 25% fees/1year | NA | ? | $5 (1st buy $100 of crypto) + $5 (1st use of card) |
| No Fee ATM Monthly Withdrawal Limit | $200-$1000 (2% thereafter) | ||||
| Agreements (w/stake) | Spotify (50 MCO), Netflix and Airport Lounge Key Access (500 MCO), Prime and 10% of Expedia (5000 MCO) | - | - | ? | ? |
| Card material | Plastic (Free), Metal (MCO stake/6month) | Plastic | Plastic | Plastic | Plastic |
| Card view |  |  |  |  |  |
* - This was how much it costed me. Might be different now.
NOTE - This table is a working in progress and will be updated several times until I come up with the next post. Please take this as a guide and not as official information. Let me know any mistakes or miss-interpretations. If you wanna help too, that will be appreciated.
9. Do you 🔎find this ℹ️nformation helpful?
I do spend some time preparing these posts, always trying to be as transparent and helpful as I can. If you feel like supporting me towards a different way, give it a try and "buy me a coffee" via Ko-fi Platform. I will make sure to mention my appreciation on one of my next posts (this can include other social networks, so please tag me) and use the entire donations to purchase #HIVE 😎
Do you 👍 it?: Your feedback is valuable and will allow me to improve these posts. My sole intention is to provide additional information by sharing my everyday joy in discovering, evaluating and reviewing the evolution around blockchain technology.
