I am not one to do politics and I like to be more hands on and simply learn the technicalities of new technologies and enjoy what they offer. But I must confess that I feel an internal rebellion about the Hive blockchain future as either I am not connected fully to what's developing on it or it simply froze in time while other blockchain ecosystem are evolving. It is my feeling looking at both the latest "breakthrough" dapps built around - name one! - and also the tokenomics of the HIVE governance token which seems that even the market shows bullish signed here and there, it simply doesn't follow it. So I believe there is an underlaying reason for that and why the price is not showing strength like once did. And I am afraid that if we don't wake up from the complacence sleep, we might lose ourselves into a void of blockchain projects that lost traction as time passed. We need to be reactive, we need to keep on building and improving both technologically and economically in order to ensure the sustainability of this ecosystem.
Where is Hive standing in the web3 arena
In every social media that I look, people are talking and buzzing about web3. Big exchanges like Binance are making moves, venture capital is getting more and more involved in blockchain and crypto ecosystems and new users are jumping and onboarding in trending dapps. On the other side I feel that Hive is moving at its own slower rhythm and somehow it lost velocity. We are a decentralized, resilient and independent web3 ecosystem, but with so many innovations in the blockchain and crypto space I see Hive at the risk of remaining “a niche blogging chain. Just looking at the price nowadays (even if I should say that I see value in it and the price is transitive), I feel an internal rebellion because I know Hive has the potential to be so much more but somehow it doesn't move the needle. The foundation is here, we see the power of freedom that we have here, but somehow the perception outside doesn’t match our expectations and possibilities inside. So there must be something making us stay stale rather than advancing more rapidly and delivering more dapps with utility.
The tokenomics puzzle
Tokenomics is where my worry deepens as I find HIVE today's price of $0.1797 more specific to a bear market in which we are not. The HIVE token feels undervalued compared to what's being built here and the output and engagement of all of us. Even when I see crypto market pumps, HIVE doesn’t always ride the wave or rise the same. I cannot but wonder if our governance model, the distribution or the DHF funding (miss)performance is causing all of this. I cannot but rebel internally because I don’t want Hive to become a case study in “promising and great tech, poor economics”. 😀 A healthy ecosystem needs both innovation and attractive tokenomics in order to sustain and attract growth and motivate the wider crypto community to join in.
The development feels both alive and stuck at the same time
On one hand, I see great projects who keep building like the VSC smart contracts, Peakd enhancements and Snaps, Ecency and other alike. On the other hand, the pace of evolution doesn’t match the urgency of the crypto industry and also the funded projects don't focus on bringing more value to the ecosystem but rather on technicalities and extending functionalities. Other blockchains are having decentralized layer-2 solutions like for ages, they built continuously cross-chain bridges and DeFi systems, while Hive often leans heavily on the same few apps that have been around for years. My inner rebellion comes from this duality: the pride of seeing strong infrastructure, mixed with frustration at the lack of bold leaps that could push Hive into the wider spotlight. And one of the regrets is for example the fact that InLeo had to move with LeoDex on Arbitrum probably due to lack of support from here. I am sure they would have done it here if we had the infrastructure supporting that.
Despite my frustrations, I’m not here to give up considering that I've been with the Hive blockchain since 2017. This blockchain has survived forks, market cycles and waves of doubt. This resilience tells me that the spirit of the community is strong. My rebellion is about wanting more, from myself and from all of us. The future I want is one where Hive evolves confidently in the web3 race by supporting more daring projects rather than same old ones. I know it’s possible and I see that as something that will bring real value, only if the ones with true power will chose this path. But I believe that something needs to be done as in the current crypto context what we are doing and where we are standing is just not enough. Or at least that's how I feel about it... maybe I'm wrong. What do you think?