What is Hive?
Learn the basics of the Hive blockchain - a decentralized social platform powering dApps like Ecency.
What is Hive?
Hive is a fast, decentralized, and censorship-resistant blockchain built for web3 social applications. It was launched in March 2020 as a fork of the Steem blockchain by its community to preserve decentralization and community governance.
Key Features
- Decentralized: Operated by a distributed set of witnesses, with no central authority.
- Fast and Scalable: 3-second block times and feeless transactions.
- Immutable Content: Once published, content is permanently stored on-chain.
- Rewards System: Content creators and curators earn HIVE/HBD for participation.
- Web3 Native: Built for social dApps, games, and communities.
Hive Ecosystem
Hive powers a variety of applications across different categories:
- Social Media: Ecency, PeakD, Actifit, Liketu
- Gaming: Splinterlands, Ragnarok
- Communities: Hive supports topic-based communities with moderation tools.
- Wallets and Tools: Hive Keychain, HiveSigner, Hivesearcher
Hive Tokens
- HIVE: The main liquid token. Used for governance, power-ups, and trading.
- HBD (Hive Backed Dollars): A stablecoin aimed to stay close to $1 USD.
- Hive Power (HP): Staked HIVE that gives users influence and voting power.
Hive Accounts & Keys
Each Hive account has four keys:
- Owner: Master key to recover or change other keys.
- Active: Used for financial operations.
- Posting: Used for social actions like posting, commenting, voting.
- Memo: Used for encrypted/private memos in transfers.
How to Use Hive
- Create a Hive account (via Ecency, HiveOnBoard, etc.)
- Access your account using Hive Keychain or HiveSigner.
- Post, vote, comment, and earn rewards.
- Explore different dApps built on Hive.