3/ 🧵
Steem in 2020 to prioritize decentralization after a governance dispute. Its ecosystem supports decentralized apps (dApps) like PeakD and Splinterlands, focusing on social media, gaming, and content creation. Hive uses two tokens: HIVE (governance, staking) and HBD (a USD-pegged stablecoin). The community runs the show—no central entity controls it, and 20 elected "witnesses" validate blocks.
Compare that to Ethereum, the giant in the room. Ethereum’s strength is its massive developer base and smart contract flexibility, hosting thousands of dApps. But it’s slower (15-30 seconds per transaction) and has high gas fees on its layer-1, though layer-2 solutions like Arbitrum help. It’s moving to Proof of Stake (PoS), but it’s less decentralized than Hive in practice due to large staking pools and validator costs. Ethereum’s tech is battle-tested, but it’s not built for fee-free, instant transactions like Hive.
Then there’s Solana, another high-speed contender.