The Hive Decentralized Blockchain
Hive is a Graphene-based blockchain that was originally developed with the aim of revolutionizing content monetization and coupling it with a mix of social media use and traditional blogging. Since it’s launch on March 20, 2020 it has grown and evolved. It’s prime selling points are its 3 second transaction speed and ability to handle large volumes. To date, it’s been leveraged by a variety of innovative projects focused on a broad range of fields, from open source development to trading card games.
Investment and Monetization
No initial investment is required. Default monetization is achieved by contributing textual content (publishing) and interacting through curation of others. Hive has two tradeable currencies, HIVE and Hive Backed Dollars (HBD), and one transaction-focused currency, Hive Power. The HBD is intended to be steadily pegged to the US Dollar. Hive Power is gained by “powering up” HIVE, locking it in as an investment with a divestment time of 13 weeks. The amount of Hive Power determines the level of the account’s stake and the bandwidth that an account is allocated to transact with. Bandwidth self-replenishes.
Delegated Proof of Stake Model
Hive, like all other Graphene blockchains, operates on the Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS) model. Blocks are produced at 3 second intervals and are signed by “Witnesses” selected based on the total weight of the Hive Power supporting them through individual approvals. The DPoS model allows for near real-time transactions that can be adapted for any application requiring speed and modularity. Other DPoS blockchains include Bitshares, Golos, Peer Plays, Bearshares, Steem, Scorum, and EOS; all based on the Graphene framework originally developed by Dan Larimer.
Governance
The technical development of Hive itself is carried out by the founding decentralized group of over 30 open source developers, many of whom were instrumental in creating Steem back in 2016, and supported by a growing community of additional open source developers and witnesses. Hardforks and key protocol changes must be accepted by 17/20 consensus witnesses who accept or reject code changes by upgrading their nodes. A proposal system is used to determine community consensus. Witnesses themselves are scheduled in tiers: the Top 20 and the backup. Every 21st block is processed by a random backup witness. Witnesses control account creation fees, block sizes, the production of the HBD, and set price feeds.