Is Hive Safe From The Powers That Are?

We are beginning to see a lot more interest in cryptocurrency from some parties that are not exactly the ones we want looking too closely at things. Of late, the regulators and different governments have been talking about cryptocurrency in general, and **stablecoins specifically.

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It is to the point that they realize the threat that stablecoins present to their power. This is something they are going to fight. Of course, they have a well developed power apparatus in place to push back against anything that is a threat.

In my view, it will be put to the test.

Decentralization Is The Key

We talk a great deal about decentralization these days. It is obvious this is the answer, both in theory and practice. The question is how well are we doing in practice?

The advantage that cryptocurrency has is that we can keep expanding and spinning up new projects as soon as they are ready. Hence, the attack vectors are spread out. This makes it tough for the existing powers to take down the entire system.

Thus, collectively, we are doing a fair job on decentralization. The challenge is that there are many points of weakness as we hone in.

@theycallmedan likes to refer to the token distribution of Hive compared to other blockchains. While Hive might not be ideal, it is light years ahead of most others. We know the vulnerability that enters from having a founder's stake that is of significant size. The moving of the ninja-minded stake to the DAO was one of the best moves Hive made. This removed a major point of vulnerability.

That is not the case with a lot of other blockchains. For example, we know there is a large Ethereum stake in the Vitalik and the foundation. We also can look at EOS and consider how much Block.One is holding.

The true decentralized system is Bitcoin. That was opened up immediately for mining and the hashrate spread out over the last decade. Ironic, with China's recent crackdown on miners, it appears to be spreading things out even more.

Hive does not have a major stake held by one individual or entity. The largest position is less than 5%, at least of the staked tokens. In this type of system, that is where the influence comes from.

Delegated Proof of Stake

This is a structure that gets attacked by many. Is it ideal or are there so many flaws that it is completely vulnerable?

We saw the ability of this system put to test with the Justin Sun episode. Here was a situation where a big money player came in to "buy influence". Ultimately, it was successful, mostly due to the pre-mine stake that was still floating out there. This point of vulnerability was removed as stated above.

Obviously Proof-of-Work can offer a lot in the way of security due to the ability for anyone to mine tokens. However, this is coming under attack for how resource intensive this is.

We also see Ethereum switching to a PoS system. How is this going to work out? It is by far the largest blockchain to embrace that model. Will the validation abilities only end up in the hands of a few people? A case is often made that Proof-of-Stake ends up pushing more into the hands of the rich since that is where the inflation rate ends up going.

Over the next couple of years, Ethereum will continue to get a lot of attention. Is it going to become a chain simply for the larger money players? This is an outcome that appears very possible.

Flying Under The Radar

Hive is on nobody's mind and that is a good thing.

As much as we all want Hive talked about, sometimes it is better simply to operate obscurely while everyone else is getting the attention. While Hive is doing a fine job with things, we have to be mindful of attack vectors. There is also the issue of having to strengthen all that is here.

In a post that discussed whether HBD is the safe stablecoin, the point was made that we see the potential to have something that is out of the reach of the establishment. In fact, that part is already our reality. HBD cannot be touched by them. The only question remaining is whether it can hold a peg to operate as a stablecoin.

This is something that was recently tended to. HBD flew under the radar of the community, let alone the regulators. However, we might be in the process of creating something very valuable for the industry.

We are at the point where the FUD is mounting. Stablecoins are getting a lot of attention. Not to be left out, even that "late to the party crypto-expert", Jim Cramer, popped off about Tether. It is hard to deny the validity of the questions posed just the source.

Tether is getting a lot of attention with people questioning the lack of transparency. This is not only coming from the establishment but also people within the cryptocurrency community. What is something actually backed by is a valid question.

This is just one example of how Hive, operating out of the spotlight, is able to work on things that can aid in the future. There is a lot to be said for flying under the radar.

Who Is (Or Isn't) In Control?

Many point to the fact that Hive lacks a "front" person. There is no face of Hive. For many, this is a negative.

Aligned with the flying under the radar, this actually helps us. As the pressure from the establishment mounts, we are likely to see some of the more popular chains attacked in different ways. Do not believe the alphabet organizations are going to sit idly by.

We do, however, see another point. Ask yourself this question: Who is in charge of Hive? Come up with the answer.

It is a challenge. While one might point to the larger token holders, there is not a single entity that controls much. The influence one has is minimal compared to the total.

There was also the optimization of the chain over the past year. This enabled the system to operate with a great deal more efficiency. What this does is allows smaller players to get involved in node operation, something that is not likely with the switch for Ethereum. To be part of that circle, one needs some substantial funds.

By continuing to optimize the basic operations of Hive, we see the ability for more people to participate. Hence, if some of the top operators do not operate as the community wishes, there are plenty to replace them. We saw this with the Sun situation. It was only due to the founder stake (along with exchange voting) that the attempt was successful. Nevertheless, there were node operators who quickly found themselves out of consensus once it became clear where they stood.

There was a case where the lack of attack vector was exemplified for Hive. A mining company, Hive Blockchain, did not like the idea of this blockchain using that name. Under normal business circumstances, the cease and desist letter would arrive from some law firm.

It is likely they wanted to do the same thing with this situation. The problem is the attorney probably asked for the address to mail the letter too and none was available. Who do you sue?

The establishment has this issue at most levels. Who does it go after? Take down one URL, two more pop up. Remove one developer from the situation and there are others to step in. Go after one or two nodes and you find others around the world. Of course, they can pop up quicker than be removed.

Does this mean that Hive is safe from the powers that are? At this point, it is far ahead of most other chains. Is it impenetrable? Probably not and that is why more work needs to be done in this area. However, we already see how things are panning out with each new iteration that is added.

It is easy to look at price to conclude where things stand. At this point in the game, however, scalability and vulnerability have to be looked at. The former is getting some attention while the later is overlooked.

Hive must keep looking at its attack points and working to remove them. It is in this way that it will ensure that it is safe from the powers that seek to remain in control.

Fortunately, it is off to a nice start. This is how it can be a leader in the march towards Web3.


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Yes, one needs to work hard under the radar for a long time before one can become an overnight sensation.

Hive has certainly made huge strides in its efficiency, resilience and decentralization in the last 2 years.

Stinc used to spend huge money on AWS servers and full nodes needed 512 Gb RAM.

Now anyone with a decent PC can run a Hive API node.

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Major steps forward made from the days of Stinc. The optimization really has helped the scalability which is what is going to set Hive apart.

Think about the headaches many other chains have just to scale.

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nothing can stop what we have
Q

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Makes me keep wondering if the ninja-mined stake wasn't there, what would have propelled Justin Sun, I don't actually see him as a visionary, so it was all about the stake which can be cashed out at anytime, it was a really vulnerability like you said, Hive isn't all Shades of great but then it was great not to go down that path.

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Without that stake, I dont think none of that takes place. It was that stake which started the process of him entering.

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Yeah, he probably saw all that money and a lot of us was thinking he was going to bring traction to steem because of his popularity and supposed marketing skills.

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Justin Sun is a Chinese controlled operative. He bought BitTorrent to help the chinese spy on everyone. Same with steemit. Tron is largely a copy of steem.

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Because this is such an awesome post, here is a BBH Tip for you. . Keep up the fantastic work

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I doubt regulators will look into HBD any time soon. It's clear that we have a war against crypto as of lately, but the establishment doesn't actually have the right weapons to fight it. DEXs will take even more power of control from them over CEXs that they currently have. If we'll be able to have some sort of VISAs and Mastercards spread around the world that would allow crypto to be spent it would be even harder t control crypto. As long as we rely on banks as on and off ramps for crypto, we're still under the jurisdiction of governments.

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I agree with you, HBD is so far below the radar that it will not be looked at for a long time. It is off the grid so to speak.

DEX will really affect the CEX over time, We just need to see the continued expansion throughout the entire industry.

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Decentralization I believe is a slow and steady process. Hive might not be fully decentralized in terms of DPOS, but this also entails that just one person can't do much harm unless it's backed by others in power.

The first step is not to be fully decentralized but to be moving towards it, with more people getting in.

A wide range of users in control of things will make Hive more stronger and healthier, there will always be attacks but having the shield to stand against it should and will be the best option to explore.

1% progress towards Decentralization is A Huge Accomplishment for Hive. With time things will keep getting better.
!PIZZA

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I agree it is a process as opposed to a destination. We need to see more steps in this direction. However, with each token going into a new wallet, or into a HODLer who is interesting in growing his/her influence, then we are moving that way.

Over time, it happens. The amount of wealth being generated out of Hive based projects is terrific. This will help in other areas down the road.

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Great points! This makes me want to invest even more into Hive. I think it is a good point that while Justin Sun did eventually "win", it wasn't easy for him and it brought a lot of attention to just how powerful a PoS system can be when implemented correctly.

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He won in that he got Steem. However, what did he really get since much of the community abandoned there.

Hence the community was able to pull the nuclear option, forking things out.

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lol HIVE is not even safe from the powers within😛

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The biggest enemy is inside. The people themselves. Or rather their nature. Greed, selfishness, fear.

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All whales are potential attack vectors. We dont need whales for Hive to work. They are an artifact in a system that doesnt require them or need them for any function. Whales over time can be bought off if they sell their private keys to someone, and we wouldnt know it. Especially whales who never say anything, we have no idea of how many Justin Sun might own or someone else.

The best way forward is to encourage people to buy more stake and ask whales to powerdown and sell their stake to have less centralization.

I know others dont like to hear that because we glamorize wealth(whales) and it feels good to get a big upvote, but my points stand.

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The best way forward is to encourage people to buy more stake and ask whales to powerdown and sell their stake to have less centralization.

If people buy (or earn) enough stake, then they may also become whales.

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That is true, but there is actually no need for anyone to be a whale in this system.

People mostly are whales through being around in the early days. A whale is someone who has a lot of wealth, whether it was earned in this system or bought doesn't really make a difference. The more power a few individuals have the greater the risk of an attack vector.

We don't know who some of these whales even are, they could be the same person. There are a lot of whales who never say anything/post/comment/etc.

I have more confidence in this current system than I did with Steem. I would have more confidence in this current system if more people powered up and more whales powered down. Some might argue that we are already decentralized enough but I don't think we are.

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(Edited)

I would have more confidence in this current system if more people powered up and more whales powered down.

This is like saying that the whales (in this system) are not people. This platform is centralized around the whales, which I do not like, because most people are either overlooked or ignored. But the whales are still people. And if more people would power up, that would really increase the confidence of the users in this system. Everyone should power up, but in reality much more people are powering down than up. Most people do not want influence in this system. They want to earn money. And they can do that without powering up their liquid Hive.

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I think a good rule to follow is just keep all of the Hive/HP rewards powered up and continue to power them up. If looking to sell something sell the HBD and turn that into Fiat or another crypto.

I run the curation trail for @informationwar and @deepdives we have about 3 million to 4 million HP that upvotes whatever I upvote. I am doing my best to spread that around all of the relevant tags like #politics #truth #conspiracy #deepdives #informationwar and otheres related to it.

By me curating people in those tags I am helping spread around all of that power. The people I upvote are typically decentralized minded people and most of them don't power it down. So there is also that way to do it via earnings and not powering down, we don't need to buy it or have whales sell, but it will be MUCH FASTER to make Hive more decentralized if whales sell and minnows buy.

Decentralization is a constant process that involves a lot of effort, as I said previously, theres no reason anyone has to be a whale on this platform besides them wanting control over the platform. If they were just investors thats different, but we also don't need investors either, what we need is millions of users. We can't really have millions of users unless the whales power down as there isn't enough Hive for millions of active users.

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Maybe the 5% swings are a blessing. I could see someone arguing that HBD is not a stable coin in that regard. With the right set of lawyers we might be able to have our cake and eat it too. :)

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We talk a great deal about decentralization these days. It is obvious this is the answer, both in theory and practice. The question is how well are we doing in practice?

I think the key is precisely in this concept: decentralization. But at the same time, I think we gloat over the fact that HIVE with its DPOS and other similar blockchains claim to be decentralized, when in reality it is basic decentralization, for mere comparison to existing centralized entities, call it Facebook, Twitter , etc.

We should honestly ask ourselves if we are actually a decentralized blockchain because each of us lives the illusion that we can participate in decision-making, although the entire infrastructure depends on a few dozen central points.

I think we are still very, very far from a true decentralized blockchain, although the right path is certainly being followed.

In a true decentralization the control points that exist today, whether they are witnesses, api or the storage of all the content of the blockchain, it should not be possible to identify them specifically through names, IPs or geographical locations. The entire blockchain should not be more than pieces of processes, information, simple bytes distributed in a totally random way and executed by each of the users of the blockchain, and that in the end the witness that mined the block would be all the users who in some way contributed to the processing of that block. No, I am not talking about POW but rather a kind of PDPOS.

With all this I am not saying that it is a problem that HIVE has, but that it is a problem that we all have when we think of decentralized systems. For example, migrating all the content of the HIVE blockchain to the IPFS system may seem like a desirable idea, but the reality is that IPFS is not yet a viable solution for real, living projects like HIVE, which are constantly changing and evolving. But in what can be a great contribution of HIVE in the development of decentralized systems, it is that it is a clear example of the real and true problem that decentralized systems face.

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I think crypto investors themselves are the greatest risk to decentralization. Most won't admit it, but the desire for a charismatic frontman who can pump the price of the coin is every investors dream. This is like the national citizen who loves freedom, but also pleads for a strongman that can "drain the swamp." I think we all need to look inside ourselves to see who the real enemy is.

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Most won't admit it, but the desire for a charismatic frontman who can pump the price of the coin is every investors dream.

Yes, this is the reality. Everyone can see how the massess (and the whole cryptocurrency market with it) react to the cryptocurrency related tweets of Elon Musk. Maybe people do not even need a charismatic person, just/only a rich one, and Elon Musk is one of the most richest persons in the world. Probably mainly this is why most of the people follow him, and not because he is charismatic.

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That is one of the benefits of a decentralized block chain. They can't really shut us down and even if they pull a witness node off, we got plenty more to step up.

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Awesome article and very encouraging. Thanks. Rehived and upvoted.

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Call me crude but security is why I recently unvoted any T20 witness with less stake powered up than me.

When the T20 have been earning > $10 000 a year for securing the chain I can't forgive any single one of them for not also helping to secure it by powering up.

And why I don't generally vote for people selling Hive.

For a secure chain we ultimately need trustworthy actors with locked Hive.

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Who Is (Or Isn't) In Control?

The rich people is in control.

There is no face of Hive.

There are multiple faces of Hive. The whales.
The whole Hive blockchain is centralized around them.

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This was a good article that i enjoyed reading. let's hove the decentralization will work against an outside attack, as it was the case with Mr.Sun and Steem. The one who shall not be named. !PIZZA !LUV

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