We have a problem with onboarded users who are new to Hive, many of them being new to crypto, discovering Steemit simply while researching more about Hive. When they discover it they don't realize that the protocol is compromised and is part of JS's money laundering empire, they just see a blogging site that gives tokens. They don't realize that by trying Steemit they are both partaking in crime and risking themselves, their information, and their funds.
We are now moving more towards onboarding content creators as an ecosystem. We must figure out how to approach this and mitigate the chance of an innocent person unknowingly making their way there through either misinformation on Hive Discords or through old links. Ideas?
Hive was created four years ago as a fork of the Steem blockchain after it suffered an irreversible protocol compromise due to a 51% attack. We're about to celebrate our anniversary a few days from now.
A 51% attack is an issue in baseline delegated proof of stake (DPOS) blockchains. It is possible when the elected, trusted and decentralized witnesses (block producers) are replaced without the consensus of the blockchain stakeholders. This happens when the weight of the combined stake (votes of) wallets voting for attacker servers overwhelm the combined stake (votes of) wallet voting for legitimate servers. These blockchains have 20 consensus witnesses who are meant to be individuals whose job is to run servers housing the protocol version (software version) that is agreed upon by them. They review the protocol code and vote on it.
When an attack is successful, that protocol code is replaced by a different protocol code. There are no mandates to ensure that in OS cases, the code that is published and the code that is run by the consensus witnesses is one and the same. No one knows for sure what is in it because it is private. Because those witnesses are private. The operation of a centralized, private, DPOS blockchain depends solely on the operator who has taken control. It's not a difference of opinion as some like to troll, it's a technical matter. Technology doesn't run on opinions and ideals.
Imagine a train track. The train track is going straight but an attack took place, causing a new track to be built. The new track is great but the old track still exists. The utility of the original track is altered but its integrity is also affected by that attack. The metal is no longer strong enough to hold the train and it can break at any moment, causing the train to crash. No one would knowingly ride it if they understood but they see cheap tickets. The train may keep going on the broken, weak track for a long time but the moment the crack widens, it will crash with everyone still onboard it.
Why does this matter? In my opinion, we have an ethical responsibility by the virtue of our existence as Hive. We created Hive because of our strong morals and ethics. We didn't want to have the community we built sold like chattel and used for the personal profit of two, the seller and buyer. Doing the right thing isn't easy. Many Hive stakeholders put their money where their mouth is and had it all stolen. We repelled an attack using three giant exchanges. No matter our personal differences and minor disagreements, we have ethics and integrity. That's why this matters.
Thoughts?