There is a pretty romantic story about Hive that those new in Hive must know. It is a story to be told as if the reaction from the newbie is a litmus test of whether they deserves Hive.
Rite of passage when onboarding new Hivers.
This is, of course, the story how Hive came about to be the decentralized, public and community blockchain it is now.
The gist of it is that long time ago, there was a blockchain project called Steem. Steem was founded in March 2016. It was supposed to be a blockchain-based decentralized social media that would reward its users with the STEEM tokens.
The co-founders of Steem were Ned Scott and Dan Larimer. Allegedly, at the start, they gave themselves a head-start and mined a pile of STEEM tokens, 80% of the supply.
Steem went ahead and did well, nevertheless. There were users and blogging activities were vibrant. The blockchain was also supported by its community members.
All is good until the story of hostile takeover occurs. It will not do any reader justice here to retell the stories here. Rather, here is the link to the dramatic story retold by Tim Copeland that should be read to enjoy.
For even more backstories, check out the other posts.
- https://decrypt.co/31174/most-popular-steem-dapp-migrated-rival-network-hive
- https://decrypt.co/39203/the-steem-community-launched-a-lawsuit-against-bittrex
- https://decrypt.co/29963/binance-will-support-controversial-steem-hardfork
- https://decrypt.co/29838/steem-fractures-coinbase-retreats-libra-battle
- https://decrypt.co/29626/a-daring-plan-to-save-5-million-of-cryptocurrency-steem-failed
- https://decrypt.co/29564/justin-sun-stolen-steem-funds
- https://decrypt.co/29416/steem-network-to-seize-5-million-from-its-own-users
- https://decrypt.co/26738/hive-cryptocurrency-price-explodes-800-in-four-days
But let's fast forward to the point how Hive began, and why Hive is special.
In essence, the community voted to fork the Steem blockchain and called it Hive. Of course, the bad actors were not accorded the new Hive tokens, but almost everyone else did.
From that point on, Hive is a blockchain that has no venture-capitalist backing. It is a truly censor-free public chain that is owned by the community.
It is not an understatement to compare the pristine state of the Hive token with that of Bitcoin. Considering that both has no original VC backing.
That is why Hive is special. Since you are coming onboard Hive, you should know this backstory!
P/S: Of course, none of these can constitute financial advice. Always do your own due diligence before investing.
