![](https://images.ecency.com/DQmd4Uffst5dKjeJuPC3dGvNgpdb7ND7xovvAfVh1ZJ9r3z/hive_blockchain.jpg)



Hive by itself has got to be one of the best blockchains in my opinion. With feeless transactions, fast blocks, a rather robust system and the unique way in which it operates there's a lot going for the blockchain. 

However we have seen that it still has not really taken foot and it seems like a vast majority of that value in the future will in fact be coming from layer two options. I don't expect layer 2 options to hit a high threshold on Hive for at least another two or more years as development times take a while and with a long bear market and low prices the demand to bring more applications/ developers into hive has been extremely low.

That doesn't mean however you can't stack now and prepare for what may come fiver years down the road. In this article I'm going to go over how powerful of a passive crypto builder the Hive blockchain really is and how it dwarfs many other blockchains at the moment.

# $HIVE

Hive in itself should be thought about more of a resource credit than anything else. Much like the wax blockchain powered up hive allows you to perform actions on the chain. It's pretty much locking out a portion of the overall blockchains resources for each action to those who hold powered up hive.

In most cases for every day use right now 100Hive will do the trick and allow you to do comments, posts etc but that numbers only going to increase as more hive is produce and more applications come online eating up those resources.

At some point I could see the delegation of these resources to applications to be more than just a money or transfer of wealth grab which they currently are but instead as a way to help an application get started and run on hive to onboard new users etc.

# HIVE POWERED

Hive powered refers to hive that is powered up. It has a locking up period of 13 weeks of which 1/13th of it will be given back as liquid hive if powered down. For example if you set a 1,300 hive power down you'd get 100 liquid hive each week. 

Hive powered is also what is referred to above in giving users the ability to do on chain transactions with zero fees (Unless the application chooses to charge a small fee themselves) 

There are also four very powerful reasons to have hive powered up which I'll go over below.

**1) APR**
Hive powered up collects a base layer APR. This APR is slowly reduced over time in the form of emissions or new tokens created. This APR can also change depending on how much hive is powered up and other factors. At the moment we are seeing 3.09% but during good times in prices I've seen this at 2.8% and again remember it will slowly reduce over the years.
![](https://images.ecency.com/DQmbE1XpByaaAsCAxewRPXCS7qeiJYVT3XDhCSk2kjnrb6g/hivepowered.jpg)

**2) Curation**
Curation is the lifeblood to the hive token. Every day there is a set rewards pool of which votes cast by others on content such as articles and [Threads](https://leofinance.io) and comments on others threads and articles earn a portion of this rewards pool. 

In most cases you'll be around a 7% APR on curation and this will jump around. You have 20 100% votes you can do in a 24 hour period of time so always try and maximize your votes and spread them out across good valuable content you enjoy and would like to see more of.

At the time of writing this my APR sits at 8.68% Combine the two together and I'm earning a respectable 11.77% APR on my hive powered up.
![](https://images.ecency.com/DQmb7WJXBCYNNAkUsJvjv8mTa1qg1dN85eY4Cv1pstUX8KR/aprh.jpg)

**3) Witness Votes**
Witnesses are servers run by people or a group of people who keep the hive blockchain running. They are then supported by other witnesses as a backup if any of the main 20 should fail. You can vote on witnesses on [PeakD Witnesses](https://peakd.com/me/witnesses) which I have found to be the easiest. 

Do you research on this, click on their profile and see how active they are and how they are contributing. Vote for only the ones you believe are doing a good job. You earn nothing from this yourself however you are contributing to the overall strength of the hive blockchain by doing so.

**4) Proposal Votes**

Proposals are "jobs" or "works" that are funded by a pool of money called the DHF. By casting a vote you can support for a project or projects to get the funds they are requesting. If you don't want to support one and feel it's not brining in value for the cost of what's going out you can always uncast your vote or simply don't vote for it. Another easy place to see these all are at [PeakD Proposals](https://peakd.com/me/proposals)

# $HBD

HBD stands for Hive Backed Dollar and while it's suppose to hold a $1 worth of hive at any given time it's proven it often doesn't do the greatest job of this when prices start to really swing. However it does attempt to do its best to always return to the $1 value in hive over time. 

This is what is known as a algorithmic stable coin that isn't based on Fiat money but instead on the base layer token in this case being Hive.

Just about a year ago HBD start to collect interest APR and that APR has shot up to some crazy highs. At the moment the current APR on HBD is 20% which is Massive when you compare it to banks and other assets.

For myself a 20% APR will not always be something to count on. At some point the inflation will simply come to high at which point witnesses will have to vote to reduce it.

Personally I could see HBD stable at around a 10% APR or a little less which is still crazy high in perspective of everything else crypto and fiat a like.

When you start to combine all of these factors together you can start to see how powerful of a platform Hive really is. What needs to take place however is Hive needs to stop being looked at as a platform to keep requesting funds from or people instantly selling off their hive they get from blogging. Instead the value needs to be seen in why you should be holding some if not more hive than you currently are to contribute to the blockchain and uphold strong values within it. It shouldn't be looked at as a ATM for funding and other charity. Sure It's nice but it hurts the overall value of hive by constantly exiting money out of the chain and never replacing it. Let's start making that change and for those new the above are important aspects on why you'd want to stack your hive and HBD.
*This article is for entertainment and is not financial advice.

Posted Using [LeoFinance Alpha](https://leofinance.io/@bitcoinflood/how-hive-offers-some-of-the-best-features-in-crypto)