Hive is not on the radar of most.
That said, recent statements by Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick point to an ideal use for the Hive blockchain.
When it comes to databases, Hive is best suited for data that is public yet seeks immutability. It is a network that stores text natively without the use of smart contracts. While the government will likely opt for one of the EVMs, Hive could fill the secretary's decision better than most.
Governments turning to blockchain as databases is not a new concept. With all the focus upon crypto, overlooked is the new data structure that is forming. Government are perfect for this use case since most of the data they generate are public. Therefore, other than things such as payroll information, the public can see all that is produced.
Could the US government be heading in this direction? It appears to be the case based upon what Lutnick said.
US Government To Post Data On Blockchain And Why Hive Would Be A Great Choice
Donald Trump is positioning himself as the crypto President. Certainly, his administration has taken a favorable stance towards the industry. Many will point to the family's involvement in crypto as his motivating factor. Whatever the reason, this is a massive shift as compared to where the Biden Administration stood.
Crypto is only one piece of the blockchain puzzle. Most do not realize that crypto is nothing more than an application for this new network type. It is akin to email. That was the first major use case for the Internet yet it is not the totality of that technology.
Blockchain offers so much more potential. Lutnick is now looking for the United States government, specifically the Commerce Department, to step up and lead the way.
Here is part of his recent comments regarding the matter:
“The Department of Commerce is going to start issuing its statistics on the blockchain, because you are the crypto president, and we are going to put our GDP on the blockchain so people can use it for data and distribution.”
This was not an off-the-cuff interview. It was done during the most recent cabinet meeting.
Lutnick made the announcement during a White House cabinet meeting on Tuesday, describing the effort as a move to expand blockchain-based data distribution across government agencies.
Evidently, Lutnick plans on starting with GDP figures and then, perhaps, moving to other forms of data from across the department.
If this does occur, the United States will be leading the way, at least among the major nations. To this point, a few smaller countries such as Estonia incorporate blockchain into the operations. However, when it comes to the leading economies, none are really pursuing this approach.
The US could change that instantly. By starting the process, we could see it move throughout the government over the next couple years. At that point, other nations will likely follow.
Hive: The Ideal Text Database
Hive is a decentralized database that is immutable. Anything written on the base layer cannot be changed after a block is added. The consensus mechanism requires a super majority to alter anything, something that is near impossible considering the block validator mechanism.
Text storage is often overlooked in the era of images and audio. That said, much of what we deal with regarding information is text based. This is especially true for governments and businesses.
As stated, with the former, the fact that most of the information is open to the public already makes blockchain an ideal solution.
Consider the plight of small municipalities. These entities have to run their own IT departments, securing the data which is posted online for the public to engage with. There is, naturally, a cost to this.
Blockchain could resolve this.
A network like Hive would only require enough of the staked token to facilitate the writing to the database. All network operations are outside the responsibility (and cost) of the municipality. Of course, the integration of the data into the different websites is required but database management is outsourced.
We also have the trust factor.
Anything that is posted to a network such as Hive is open for all to see. The account that did the posting, along with the time, is recorded. We also see any updates to the data being fully disclosed, as there is a linkage between the blocks that can be followed.
In other words, each layer of changes is open to the viewing of anyone.
Blockchain is much more than just crypto. As stated, believing the opposite is like equating the Internet solely to email. If we did that, we would likely overlook the biggest use case, social media.
We are still in the early stages. Lutnick could set off a wave whereby we see a number of government agencies replicate what he is doing. In face, we could see something such as the central bank posting most of their information on blockchain.
Those who are using Hive should start to realize this use case and start promoting it as such. Social media companies have massive databases due to the fact that publicly posted information such as news resides there. This, of course, is a closed system, with those corporations owning the data.
Bringing the same concept to blockchain starts the process of democratizing data. That is what the world needs.