Maybe a week ago, 
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It's always nice to remember the first day, and then, to rewind the whole journey movie toward the present moment! I just checked my introduction post and realized that many people from the comment section aren't around anymore... But, on the other side, some of them are, and also, I met a lot of others in the following 7 years!
Do you remember the time when the main "motto" on the chain was:
I'm not here for the money, I'm here for the tech!
😀
The irony was that the token price was much higher than it is at this moment, and many were here "for the money", and to be honest with you, I didn't mind seeing that nice USD chunk value in my wallet... Yes, in those moments, I had just a hundred tokens, but they were worth something!
Of course, we had those days when the token price was low, and in those moments, it looked like we were all here "just for the tech"... 😂 But, there was one moment when everything changed...
It wasn't a moment when we forked out and moved to HIVE... It wasn't the moment when HIVE hit the $3.35 mark in November 2021... It wasn't the moment when my Splinterlands asset valued over $30K... It wasn't the moment when I hit the Dolphin rank, or the Orca rank...
It was the moment when I attended my first HiveFest live! It was Amsterdam, 2022, and I went to the event alone, knowing nobody IRL, but at least having some online Hivians that I met before on the chain present there... For an introverted person, that was a huge step and a big revelation! I discovered the COMMUNITY! I know, we have/had it here from the beginning of the chain, but meeting people IRL is completely another level... I'm not giving financial advice ever, but here, I can strongly suggest to everyone to visit at least one HIVE meetup! But, watch out, you will get hooked, that's for sure! 😃
Who would say that it passed "only" 3.5 years from the Amsterdam HiveFest! Since then, I have attended numerous meetups all around Europe... To be honest, I'm not sure I can list them all and not skip any... Let me try, HiveFest7 Amsterdam, Netherlands (2022), HF9 Split, Croatia (2024), BuzzParty Hamburg, Germany (2024), BuzzParty Graz, Austria (2025), HiveBeeCon Krakow, Poland (in 2023 and 2025), two meetups in Novi Sad and Apatin, Serbia that I organized in 2024 and 2025, and many more personal meetups!
That's why I'm so excited about the next big Hive meetup, HiveOpenDays in Alicante next week! Another opportunity to meet some new Hivians that I didn't meet yet, and to hang out with some old friends for the 2nd, 3rd, or even 4th time (or more?)!
I can proudly say, and to be sure I really mean and feel it...
I'm here for the community, for my friends... For the good times we had, and for the good times we will have in the future... Online and Offline... On the Internet, but also, in the bar, on the boat, at my place, at your place, or in any part of the world...
Next time, when someone asks me why HIVE is different than other blockchains, I will know what to answer...
Thank you for your time.
--ph--
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