### What inspired the creation of Hive, and how long has it been in development?
The protocol and team behind the creation of Hive dates back to 2016 but it wasn't until 2020 that it saw true decentralization. Hive was created as an independent and decentralized fork of the Steem blockchain originally developed by Dan Larimer. In early 2020, the community found itself facing a hostile takeover by the Tron Foundation following the sudden sale of the founding company, Steemit Inc, to Justin Sun. Dan Larimer himself was long gone from Steemit Inc by then. A 51% Attack (a DPOS-based protocol compromise attack) was launched through Sun's manipulation of three major exchanges, the established community and developers abandoned the now-centralized Steem and created Hive. Even with the magnitude of the attack, which is unprecedented in crypto, the community was able to fight back. Hive is an example of a grass-roots community that shares the core values of decentralization and freedom coming together to stand up to corporations and win. Since becoming Hive, the protocol has seen massive changes, starting with fixing security gaps which allowed such an attack, and we are constantly pushing the boundaries of DPOS to promote speed and scalability.
### How does Hive utilize blockchain technology, and what benefits does it provide over traditional systems?
Hive is based on what's known as a DPOS (decentralized proof of stake) protocol. Key decisions such as whether a new version of the protocol is suitable for the blockchain are controlled by stake-based voting where it is measured to determine 'consensus witnesses', who then vote by either accepting the codebase and upgrading or rejecting it. Being a witness on Hive requires a lot of hands-on time and dedication. Why is this important? For several reasons including: stability, innovation, and scalability.
Hive witnesses operate nodes that sign blocks using servers that are located all over the world. Each node is unique and should due to some unforeseen emergency, such as those caused by climate change, a portion of the nodes lose power, others will pick up the slack and the blockchain will continue to operate. This is critical during current times of global uncertainties. Hive also promotes and welcomes all innovation. We are a fee-less blockchain, meaning no gas fees, and are ripe for building on. Many talented developers have architected a wide range of layered solutions. You can connect a game to the Hive blockchain in a matter of hours due to not one, but two types of SQL layered solutions. It is possible to launch a token on Hive within minutes. And finally, since Hive is made for versatility, it must be scalable. Energy and resource intensive blockchains are not feasible in the long term and Hive recognizes this. The majority of protocol developments on Hive are geared towards pushing optimization and ensuring we are building a system that can outlast. Hive's OBI (one block irreversibility) allows transactions to become confirmed within milliseconds of signing, for instance. This is ideal for all sorts of applications, games and points of sale.
Traditional systems simply can't compete while hitting on all the key points. A traditional system may have an edge on the speed of deployment, but it can't promise the level of stability made possible by true decentralization. It can scale but by adding more bloat to itself. It limits itself in innovation because its innovation depends on whom it may recruit and retain, and even then most ideas are lost in corporate culture. We've also recently seen cases of major traditional social medias shutting down API access and restricting use of their services. This was devastating to users and businesses. On Hive, this is simply impossible. A public blockchain will always have unrestricted use of its data. A private API is very straight forward to spin up on Hive. We could go on forever but let's just say that it all adds up to confidence.
### Can you discuss any partnerships or collaborations that Hive has formed, and how they will benefit the project's growth and development?
We are steadily focused on direct B2B relationships. Right now, there are about a hundred different businesses in the world where HIVE and HBD can be used to secure services, dine, purchase goods, and even stay at hotels. These are businesses that are accepting HIVE and HBD directly, not through any third party payment gateways. Hive has also formed bonds with individual physical communities all over the world. There are a total of nine water wells built in Ghana in nine different villages where they are providing water to thousands free of any charge and while demonstrating that a decentralized blockchain technology can have a reach and effects beyond the digital wallet. There are more such examples than we can list here. In general, Hive is always open to strategic collaborations with those who share our goals and values. Recognizing the mutual value in a strategic collaboration enables Hive to grow as an ecosystem. Other like-minded groups and organizations see the value and potential in Hive and the ideas it stands for and our combined efforts power a greater movement towards decentralization, independence, freedom and innovation.
