Personally, I believe one of the best innovations Hive brought to the internet is its reward distribution system. In many ways, it was ahead of its time.
Before mainstream social media platforms started seriously talking about paying creators for their influence and content, Hive was already doing it. Through content creation and curation, value could be distributed directly among users without relying entirely on advertisements or a centralized company deciding who deserves to get paid.
That is one of the reasons why I still believe we are on the right track.
Hive started with a relatively simple concept of rewarding creators and curators, but over the years, the ecosystem surrounding the blockchain has expanded tremendously. Different developers and communities have built applications on top of Hive for blogging, short-form content, gaming, finance, NFTs, communities, and many other purposes.
I was lucky enough to experience some of the periods when development around Hive was booming, and even today, people continue building new things.
And I don't think that will ever completely stop.
As long as there are developers and Hive users willing to experiment, someone will eventually think, "What else can we build with this blockchain?"
That brings me to one concept I've been thinking about lately.
Hive Doesn't Have to Be Only About Posting
If you've read some of my recent posts, you'll know that I don't think Hive should only be viewed as a "post and earn rewards" social platform.
Hive can also become infrastructure for businesses.
One use case that has been explored before, and one that I believe deserves another serious look, is a Hive-powered marketplace or e-commerce platform.
Online shopping has already become part of everyday life. We buy electronics, clothes, groceries, food, household products, pet supplies, collectibles, and almost everything imaginable online.
E-commerce also gives small sellers an opportunity to reach people who otherwise would never discover their products.
So why couldn't Hive participate in that economy?
My Idea for a Hive Marketplace
The concept I'm imagining is actually straightforward.
Think of something similar to a modern peer-to-peer marketplace, except the blockchain infrastructure underneath it would be Hive.
Sellers could create listings for products they want to sell. Buyers could browse those listings, choose an item, and settle the transaction using HBD.
For me, HBD makes a lot of sense as the currency of the marketplace because users wouldn't have to constantly think about the changing price of HIVE while purchasing everyday products.
But the most interesting component would be escrow.
Instead of sending HBD directly to a seller and simply hoping the product arrives, the payment could be held in escrow until the buyer confirms that the transaction has been completed successfully.
There could also be an agreed arbitrator for disputes between buyers and sellers.
That simple mechanism could make peer-to-peer trading much safer.
Looking at the visuals I created, this is basically how I imagine the experience.
A clean marketplace where you can browse products, check a seller's profile and reputation, pay using HBD, and clearly see that your transaction is being protected through escrow.
The blockchain side shouldn't overwhelm users.
It should simply work in the background.
Hive Is Built for Something Like This
What makes the idea exciting to me is that Hive already has many of the characteristics needed for this type of application.
Transactions are fast, everyday usage doesn't require users to constantly pay gas fees, accounts have recognizable usernames, activity can be publicly verified, and HBD gives the ecosystem its own stable medium of exchange.
More importantly, Hive was designed to handle a lot of social activity.
If we can process posts, comments, votes, transfers, games, and other activities every day, then I believe commerce is another direction worth exploring.
Of course, turning this concept into a fully functioning marketplace would require serious development. There would be challenges involving escrow, dispute resolution, seller verification, shipping, fraud prevention, and the overall user experience.
But every application begins as an idea.
And that's really the purpose of the visuals I created.
I'm not saying this is exactly how a future Hive marketplace should look. I'm simply imagining what could happen if we start looking at Hive not only as a place where we earn value, but also as a place where we can use that value.
Maybe someday, instead of converting our HBD before buying something online, we'll simply open a Hive marketplace and click:
Buy with HBD.
That would be a pretty amazing use case for our ecosystem.
Feel free to share your thoughts about the concept and the designs. I'd especially love to know what features you think a Hive-powered marketplace would need.
Hive on!
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I don't know how viable this would be, but I like that you are thinking creatively about how to extract value from the platform. There are those of us who would love to make money but we don't really put a lot of thought or effort into it. We collect our paychecks, save and spend prudently. We are not entrepreneurs at heart. But the entrepreneur class drives the world, drives the economy. If you can find a way to appeal to that class of participants, Hive will grow. So, I applaud you. I don't really understand it, because I get a headache when I try to think of creative ways to make money. But that's the name of the game--being creative about making money. The more challenged our economy (Hive, USA, the world) becomes, the greater the importance of entrepreneurs.
Thanks! I think that’s an important point too... not everyone needs to become an entrepreneur, but Hive could provide the infrastructure for those willing to build something.
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Heeding to such suggestions like this might help the future of hive. Transacting directly on hive can even draw in many more users. I agree that it will profit more than converting it for usage else way.
I agree. If people can actually use HIVE and HBD directly for everyday transactions, it gives the ecosystem much more utility beyond simply earning and converting.
I really love the idea.
And actually there was one similar service, which was called Hive List. It was a digital marketplace if I remember correctly, with lots of products as well as services. One that was pretty interesting was 🌈 a Hive integration Wordpress theme, where we get to buy a what's-it-called widget or something for Wordpress to aggregate all sorts of posts from Hive.
PeakD also has a Store option, which was quietly launched December of last year if I'm not mistaken.... It's under the Store tab in your profile and posts will go to the Hive Open Market. The URL will be https://peakd.com/shop.
I tried to sell something, a newsletter subscription here
Not many are selling anything on the Hive Open Market yet, but there are some that tries to sell art pieces with worldwide shipping. Again, a great thing! I'd use it.
Interesting that similar ideas have already been tried. Perhaps the key is learning from those attempts and figuring out what could make a Hive marketplace gain real traction today.
Hope to see this coming in the near future
Same here... I’d love to see more practical marketplaces and businesses built around Hive someday.
I think that this is a fantastic idea. But I feel that success is dependant on converting existing busy marketplaces to the Hive platform. Because building new markets at the same time as a new platform would need someone to invest massively with no early prospects of any return.
!BBH
That’s a good point. Bringing an existing marketplace and its users onto Hive could be far more practical than trying to build both the platform and the market from zero.
Coincidentally, I just found an old post from an ecommerce community called Hive Thrifted. But it died out about 2-3 years ago. Unsurprisingly, considering the complexity of using it. But also because it only has around 100 members and you need thousands of active traders to make it work.
!BBH
Start small. Trial an MVP. Baby steps eventually become big boy shoes.
I like the idea though… I could imagine it working.