Hive: The ONLY Blockchain with PROVEN Layer 0 Security
People would say Bitcoin is the most secure blockchain in the world. Hmm, maybe. They certainly tried to keep it as secure as possible over time, from the technical and node distribution standpoint (that didn't prevent pooling).
But where I think they excel more than in security is in their connections. Bitcoin, native or wrapped, is connected to everything in the cryptosphere and is often an onramp and offramp to fiat. While I think there is a chance a different blockchain more secure than Bitcoin is or will be out there, one as connected as it is is very unlikely to grow. That is its strength, and they should take great care of it.
Bitcoin runs on a POW protocol. While this protocol has been attacked for its energy consumption needs, its proponents think of it as the most decentralized one. If mining pools didn't exist, I would agree.
At the same time, bitcoiners often look down upon protocols such as POS and DPOS because they are prone to centralization. In many cases, I believe they have a point. But that's often the case due to a poor distribution of the governance token, either from the start or in time.
Hive works on a DPOS protocol, as many know. The 20 top witnesses + 1 rotating backup witness produce all blocks for the chain. Moreover, top witnesses make decisions regarding some parameters of the chain, keep the price feed, or decide if or when to fork. In some cases, a simple majority is enough, in others (like forking) a supermajority is needed. In other cases, a median between top witness parameters is taken into consideration.
I believe Hive has a relatively balanced distribution of the governance token, especially compared to other blockchains. Could be improved, obviously, and that's an ongoing effort, but it's not bad.
When we talk about blockchain security, we often refer to the base layer of the blockchain, or layer 1. That's where security is the tightest. Layer 2s sometimes have elements of security of their own, other times they rely entirely on the security of the base layer.
For bitcoin, the mainnet is layer 1. The Lightning Network is layer 2. I don't know enough about LN, but from the stories @brianoflondon shared, I wouldn't keep some bitcoin on a LN node if you gave it to me for free.
For Hive, the base layer holds the account management system, HIVE and HBD accounts and transactions, and the blogging logic, plus custom JSONs. For now, most other tokens are on Hive-Engine, which is a sidechain (different than layer 2). A sidechain has its own rules but uses the same mainnet as layer 1. In our case, Hive-Engine uses Hive as a database for its Custom_JSONs but has its own rules.
What many started to remark even from our break away from the old chain is that we also have another layer on Hive, more powerful than Layer 1.
According to rules of the layer 1, JS with the help of friendly exchanges would have won the conflict on st**m, and nothing could have been done. We would all still be there or stop using the chain.
Without the power of the community, Hive would have been a failed fork. If no one or few had followed the people who resisted the takeover, we wouldn't have talked about Hive today, most likely.
So, the community is stronger than layer 1. It was also called layer 0, because of that.
In the crypto space, we started to hear these words years ago: "code is law".
Here's a clear example where code is not law. The community decided that the law by code was wrong, and left. And so, the code law was made irrelevant.
As a former programmer myself, I kind of liked the idea of "code is law" for a while.
But... AI is code. Should the AIs make our laws? Not that we make perfect laws, as humans... In fact, many of them are pretty crappy. Just a point of reflection.
What I like even better is the idea of the community as Layer 0. We have proven the ability of great cohesion against what was perceived as an external threat.
I also believe because of our track record and the proven power of Layer 0, unpopular decisions are not taken lightly on Hive. This can be a good thing in some cases and a bad one in others. But... we all learn as we "grow".
Want to check out my collection of posts?
It's a good way to pick what interests you.
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I think code is more trustworthy as law than people and with regard to bitcoin as a store of wealth/money, it is paramount. Hive has a different role to play and I understand it is very centralised in many aspects, is it 1 or 2 people can decide a DHF fund vote for example? Do you know why over time there isn't less centralisation on Hive as you might expect?
I guess it depends on the code and the people...
For someone who knows what he's doing, it probably is. For the regular people and especially the uneducated newcomers, it isn't.
DHF needs to be improved... a lot. I'm the first to admit that.
Regarding the number of people who can control what proposal gets funded... That's relative. A higher threshold on the return proposal and more people are needed, but at the same time, other proposals get unfunded as well, because they don't make the threshold.
It is true, currently, all proposals voted by Blocktrades are funded (I think, haven't checked them all). But there are others that are funded without his help, one of them (Peak Open) almost at the top, behind the stabilizer. It is all relative, as I said. It's very hard to get funded if you are not well-established in the community or don't know someone who is.
The biggest problem I see with DHF is accountability. But other improvements should probably be made.
Because whales don't sell (some of them at least), while small players do. And because they know the game better than the newbies.
And because the majority of users are not focused, they don't understand nor care about nurturing their HP, while for whales this is the main target, other than not losing money.
This is probably the way things go everywhere, and we can't blame Hive or the whales. Hive reflects the decisions, we as humans, generally make. That's why most people often end up poor. Hive gives us all a chance, but not enough take it. Well, maybe when it comes to the DHF, the playfield isn't truly even, lol. Maybe someone up there hears? :)
But it is considered that Bitcoin is very safe and other altcoins can not be imagined other than Bitcoin. However, layer based coins are quite safe which we see in case of Hive. thank you
That's just Maxi talk. :)
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You've definitely got it right, we've seen that within the bear market HBD has given people a profit that has led them to live a good life and we're also seeing that this network has a lot of security. More is good and so we will see more success in the coming time.
I think Hive is great as a DPOS and with the stake more evenly spread out, I don't think we will have any issues. I think people would find out if someone was attempting that and just getting enough stake to threaten security would be quite hard.
Every protocol has its strengths and weaknesses. Hive is one of the best DPOS I am aware of, but it helps that we also have a "battle-tested" core community.
I really like how you highlighted the power of the Community in Hive. The social aspect is one of the wonderful things that I think is unique to Hive. The example you gave about how the community banded together to oppose something wrong shows how decentralized Hive is.
We can always look at things from different angles, see the half-full or the half-empty glass, because nothing is perfect. We can search for all the reasons why Hive is less decentralized (or where) or we can search for the ones why (and where) it is more decentralized. On a decentralization scale in the crypto sphere, we would probably be way up there compared to most others.
I think that's a key aspect where community as layer 0 excel at. 'Code is law' may need to be overruled in certain situations and having a community that can implement that is great. I think having a combination of layer 0 and layer 1 will make for a good governance.
Yep. I often thought this was a healthy combination. There should be some boundaries though. Direct democracy doesn't scale and can prevent important decisions from being made, hindering progress, while plutocracy is the dictatorship of the wealthy. I don't think a combination of the two has ever been attempted. We might be pioneering this too.
As pioneers, getting it right will be a revolution. Hopefully, we wouldn't make too many costly mistakes along the way. Humans can be messy but I think with good incentives, the values or interests can be aligned.
We've got some things working quite well so far and they've been working for a few years. In the end, it's a matter of not breaking what works and tweaking carefully what doesn't.
There is so much uniqueness that actually lies in hive which I believe is the strength. This will make it to stay for years to come
Yes, Hive has gone through a lot and I believe it has in its DNA the resilience, the staying power. The question is, do we have what it takes to grow?