Hive is a decentralized database that utilizes blockchain technology. It brings a rather unique offering to the world of data, something that other blockchains omitted.
Blockchains are considered distributed ledger technology (DLT). This is based upon the early networks that utilized the Proof-of-Work (PoW) consensus mechanism. It was brought into being with Bitcoin and duplicated through many of the forks. Eventually, Ethereum took this idea and inserted smart contract capabilities.
The ledgers these early chains maintained was similar to that of a bank or other financial institutions. Basically, it was transactions moving from one account to another. With this technology, the accounts are addresses which are accessed using wallets that contain private keys.
Certainly, the Hive database contained the ledger of financial transactions. There are two coins that are resident on the base layer meaning all movement across the network requires a continual updating of the individual balances.
With Hive, there is a lot more to the database.
Origins
Hive origins trace back to the Steem blockchain. An innovation of Dan Larimer, this brought forth the idea of Delegated-Proof-of-Stake as the consensus mechanism. The major focus of the network was not simply financial transactions. Instead, Steem was concentrating on bring social media to blockchain. This is an early component to what is now known as Web 3.0.
The blockchain stores any text that is applied. For more than 4 years, the network operated within issue.
At the end of 2019, it was announced that Steemit Inc, the company behind the project, was sold to Justin Sun. The founder of Tron is a divisive figure within the cryptocurrency realm. When he made his intentions clear with the blockchain, the community forked, bring Hive to life.
Since the software was similar, it allowed for the same decentralized data as Steem.
Permissionless Database
Hive is a permissionless database. This means that anyone, as long as he or she has an account, can post to the blockchain. All data is posted in blocks, and housed on different nodes across the world. It is considered a censorship resistant chain meaning that, once the data is validated and a block produced, it cannot be reversed.
We also see how it is feeless. Since Hive utilizes what is called the Resource Credit system, one does not pay transaction fees. The ability to engage with the database comes down to staking the main coin, $HIVE. Once this is done, it is known as Hive Power. Each HP provides a certain amount of RC, which is a non-tradeable token, enabling the posting on-chain.
Most of the applications focus upon social media related activities. There is a voting system, articles (known as posts) and comments. Some have even started to focus upon microblogging due to the success of Twitter.
Any text data can be stored in the database. Like other blockchains, the design means that nobody is in control of it. Anyone with the technical ability is able to set up a server and run the software. There is no permission required to be a node operator.
Decentralized Database
Hive is different from other databases. When we access data on the Internet, it is resident somewhere. Usually this is on a server farm somewhere, run by an entity such as Amazon or Google. Even if the company itself is running the servers, it is a closed system. In other words, they control all the data.
With this situation, terms of service are vital. Whatever entity is in control of the server has power over the data. More importantly, it has control over the access to said data. As people utilizing YouTube or Facebook found out, step on the wrong side of what they approve and accounts can be terminated. The result is being cut off from potentially years worth of content.
Hive operates in a different fashion. All text that is applied to the blockchain is decentralized. There are the top 20 block producers along with backups. Each is running a version of the ledger, containing all the data from the genesis block. If one node tried to change the software, such as erasing a portion of the database, then it would be out of consensus with the rest. Ultimately, that transaction would be rejected.
Think about how different this is as compared to some of the better known databases:
Hive's database is text only so not all of that list is applicable. The point is there is a lot of data is controlled by centralized entities.
This opens up the door to creating decentralized databases which can be repositories of information which are outside the control of any entities. It is what makes the Hive database unique.