What is the Hive Blockchain?

Hive is a decentralized blockchain protocol and a cryptocurrency for web3. There is a distinction here between the Hive blockchain, the cryptocurrency HIVE, and the frontend for blogging Hive.blog. The cryptocurrency has all capital letters, Hive with the "H" in capital letter is the blockchain, and Hive.blog is one of the many frontends built on top of the blockchain.

But what is a blockchain exactly? A blockchain is a public ledger of all executed transactions. These transactions are stored in a distributed database. Each time the database is updated, the updates are done all together on the distributed database in a batch called a 'block'. Thus, when a new block is produced, it is appended on to all previous blocks in sequential order, forming a chain of blocks. That is why it’s called a "blockchain".

So, again, what is the Hive blockchain? Hive is a decentrilized blockchain that stores data and transactions. On this decentrilized blockchain you’ll find records of posts, votes, transfers etc. and it’s all text. And Hive is also where all the reward calculations and payouts are performed.

When you sign up, Hive allows you to be part of web3.

The Hive blockchain is designed for scale. A verifiable transaction within Hive is executed in less than 3 seconds. This 3-second delay block validation is important. Think about games, for example, or other applications in general. These need to be able to make fast transactions.

Also, on the Hive blockchain you can make fast transfers at no cost, by having a small amount of tokens ‘in Stake’ which thereby encourages the transfer of value between users of the blockchain.

Combining fast processing times and commission-free transactions, Hive is positioned to become one of the leading web3 blockchains used by people around the world.

Another aspect of the Hive blockchain is that this is a powered by Delegated-Proof-of-Stake (DPoS) consensus algorithm. (staking Hive tokens); independent from a central authority or corporation and totally community owned. The users determine the direction and future of the network in a decentralized and free ecosystem.

Why Should You Use the Hive Blockchain?

We have a major problem online, and that's web2.

Currently, on the Internet, you do not have control over the data that you share. Censorship in traditional social networks is the status quo. Business models for content creators and applications are limited. Everything is controlled by large corporations, preventing the development of secondary and more free markets.

The Hive blockchain is a great alternative. Hive has an ecosystem of uncensored social networks, communities, and token-based economies built for web3.

Hive has a thriving ecosystem of dozens of so-called dApps, communities & projects and is home to some of the most-used Web3 apps in the world, such as Splinterlands, PeakD and HiveBlog.

Hive Native Tokens and Wallet Address

We have two tokens on the Hive blockchain: HIVE and the native stable coin HBD (Hive Backed Dollars).

On Hive, you also have a wallet address, which corresponds to your username. On other blockchains, your wallet address is an impractical, long 30+ alphanumeric character addresses. On Hive though, your username is also your wallet address.

And this is, of course, the same username you use on many other dApps of the ecosystem like Hive.blog, 3Speak.tv, LeoFinance, PeakD, and more.

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