We are seeing development moving the Hive ecosystem forward. Unfortunately, this is a part of the process and it takes a lot of time. There are no shortcuts when it comes to coding.
That said, we could be seeing some convergence happening. When this happens, moves in a direction are usually more powerful. It might be a situation that really propels Hive.
Of late, there are 3 projects that seem to be capturing some attention within the community. It will be interesting to see if the updates end up translating to outside the Hive ecosystem. Thus far, that is the major barrier to the growth of Hive.
Here are three projects that appear to be getting closer to being in position to gain some recognition.
Dapplr
Dapplr is a mobile application that was designed from the ground up. It seems the intention from the very beginning was to give people the feel of Instagram.
Mobile interfaces are vital. More than half the access to the internet is done via mobile and without a strong interface, a lot of opportunity is lost.
Thus far, I have not tried the application myself. However, in reading articles by people who did, it seems it is being received favorably. The App is in Alpha testing now, having just been placed on Android (IOS is still in the works).
Here is a video that shows the versatility that the team put in for users.
In one of the write ups reviewing the app, this image caught my attention.
@claudio83/todayidownloadedthedappd-1856876617417482747155674434081k
It appears there is (or will be) a token for Dapplr. To me, this is a smart move by the project team. Tokens can really help branding of a project. If the target market is to appeal to the Instagram crowd, then the idea of rewarding them in an individual token makes sense.
Mobile is a very important facet to tap into. It will be exciting to watch the Dapplr team evolve the application as it moves forward. It is a relatively new project so we must be patient. The sifting through the obstacles of Google and Apple are simple realities of the app world. At the same time, they are adding more features to not only interface with Hive but also provide a user experience similar to that of the centralized apps.
Here we could see the start of a legitimate entry into the Web 3.0 arena that really caters to social media in a way people are familiar with.
NFTShowroom
Another recent development is the NFTShowroom. For those who are unaware, this is a shop that caters to the digital art community. It is tied to Hive-Engine, enabling buyers and sellers to come together. Here we see another area where creative talents can be monetize within the Hive ecosystem. Aspiring artists can upload their developments which are tokenized using a NFT. Buyers then can go through, purchasing the works they like. Since the NFT is transferred to the purchaser's wallet, a full trail of ownership is established.
The interesting part about this is it not only has the potential to create more transactions on Hive, but, as we can see from the price, can also move the volume higher. Being tied to the second layer means there is more flexibility in the development.
Not to be satisfied, the team behind this project is going to release another shop that caters to the photography crowd. Considering this is the most popular category on Hive according to the stats posted by 
As for the art world, this is evidently something that is rapidly becoming very popular. There is an application on Ethereum that offers the same ability. However, right now with gas fees so high, it has to be a hindrance to the activity. Hive offers 3 second transactions with no direct fees. This is something that could appeal to both parties.
It is also something that caught the eye of a well known figure in the cryptocurrency world. I do not know if this post was related to Hive or general in nature, but it does sum up where the future is going.
If this does become a multi-billion dollar industry, Hive can only benefit from being there in the early stages of development.
Leofinance
This is a project that started a little over a year ago. The reason why I include it in this article is because the team released their road map for the rest of 2020. In that article, there were a couple of things that really caught my attention.
The first was the announcement of a new U/I that will be released by the end of the week. At present, Leofinance is use a fork of the Steemit.com interface. While some adjustments were made, the fact that the developers are dealing with condenser has made it difficult. This will be a thing of the past come the start of August.
A new interface not only will provide a better user experience but will allow for the development of features that are more applicable to that community. Things such as subscription memberships, something popular in the financial arena, will be possible. We could also see different "layers" of the interface appealing to different categories of people.
Leofinance obviously caters to content creators of financial/cryptocurrency information. This is where it separates itself from a Seeking Alpha since authors (and curators) are rewarded in the LEO token. However, since the start, it has sought to be a resource center, driving traffic to the sites on a daily basis. When you have updated data that people need, such as stock and crypto prices, they tend to return throughout the day.
Having an interface built from the ground up means it can become a more robust source of financial data and information.
This is the second announcement that caught my attention. The fact that the team is starting to put together what it calls "LeoFi" is really intriguing. Obviously the post is short on details other than to say it will mirror what is out there.
From this we can look to Maker as the example. This allows for people to stake tokens from which they are paid DAI. This effectively is a collateralized loan. As most are aware, this became enormous business on the Ethereum blockchain. At present, there is more than $4 billion tied up in DeFi application across the spectrum.
Once again, it is the early stages which means that Hive getting involved in this is a good thing. In reading what the "experts" forecast, unlike the ICO craze, DeFi is not going to vanish. In other words, it is not only here to stay but we can expect it to continue to grow over the next decade.
Offering the ability to participate, once again, on a fast and feeless blockchain, could hold great appeal to users. It looks like Leofinance will be offering this service before the end of the year.
Finally, we get this tidbit. Normally, in the cryptocurrency world, we can brush something like this aside as bullcrap and false aspirations. However, after watching the Leofinance team over the past year, this really interests me.
Naturally, there are no details surrounding this and will not be for a while. Nevertheless, the team felt it necessary to include it in the announcement article so it must be something they are very high on.
We could see a major surprise one day.
To read full article:
@steem.leo/leofinance-2020-roadmap
These are three projects that appear to be getting a great deal of attention at the moment on Hive. It is interesting to see their plans and how they unfold. Based upon what we know right now, they are three applications that I think have the potential to propel Hive forward by reaching outside the ecosystem.
The world of crypto is an interesting one. It only takes that one "CryptoKitty" moment to put you on the radar of most everyone in the industry. Hive is still looking for that moment. Perhaps one of these applications ends up breaking through and providing that.
It will be a fun rest of 2020.
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