It is easy to focus upon the whales while ignoring the power that is present in one's hands.
This appears to be a human tendency that extends past Hive. However, for years, many maintained that, due to the design of Hive, a powerful middle class could form.
Most blockchains offer a couple ways of earning the coin. This comes from providing infrastructure in the form of a block validator or through purchase. For much of the world, neither of these is very feasible.
What about Hive?
There are a couple additional options that separate it from most. The first is through author rewards. New HIVE is distributed to users based upon the votes they receive. Here is where people without resources can accumulate some of the base layer coin.
At the same time, as that is staked, the potential for curation rewards enters. Here is where one can compound the holdings, simply through daily activity.
Hive Middle Class
When it comes to category distinction, we can consider the middle class to be Orcas and Dolphins. These achieved at roughly the 5,750 and 57,500 HP levels.
Here is where the goal is to have widespread distribution. As more people enter these realms, and more HP is held in those wallet, system resiliency increases.
Naturally, this is not a process that happens over night but thousands of active people has an impact over time.
Here is a thread that was posted yesterday.
https://inleo.io/threads/view/nonameslefttouse/re-leothreads-2ja2szhqx
The total Hive Power of these accounts is 64 million. That is a healthy amount and, as shown enough to get things done.
Mentioning the proposal is valid. The return proposal level, at this moment, is 27 million. The means Orcas and Dolphins could pass whatever they wanted.
Another way of looking at it is the middle class could, collectively, put the return proposal at a level where nothing gets funded (at the present voting).
Thus, it is a mistake to think there is no power there.
Witnesses
Most are aware of the role witnesses play. Here is where the assertion of "whale control" enters. Certainly, having whale votes does help.
However, once again, it is not as cut and dry as one thinks.
According to Peakd, the #20 witness, the last in consensus, has 66 million votes. This means the "middle class" could vote a witness to the #21 or #22 spot on their own.
What is very interesting is the top witness has 83 million in votes.
At this point, the middle class is on the outside looking in. Of course, in the real world, no witness is not going to get at least a few whale votes if it is nearing consensus. We also have to account for those below 5K HP. Their votes add up also.
The flip side to this is the middle class is not that far away from really being able to, collectively, control things.
While another 22 million sounds like a lot, there is a pathway if focused.
Percentage Gain
Another thing I wrote about over the years is the ability for smaller accounts to massive increase their influence.
The tendency is to look at the raw numbers. Instead, a better approach is to look at percentages.
If an account has 10K HP, adding 2K, or less than 6 HP per day, is a 20% gain in a year. Here is where the middle class can expand its influence.
Considering that curation and inflation adjustment come in near 11%, this means the only needs around 900 HP, or less than 3 per day, from online activity (posting and commenting).
To contrast, Blocktrades, with roughly 12 million HP, needs to generate over 1 million from the same activity. It isn't going to happen.
The situation gets even crazier when we talk about the Minnows but, for now, we are focusing upon the middle class.
Another piece of the puzzle is to get more people entering the middle class as opposed to leaving it. If there are more accounts, the numbers only go higher.
For this reason, those with 400 HP should look to get to 1K; those with 2,500 to move to 5,500.
As more people are working up the scale, the total impact, over time, shifts.
Long-Term Focus
Here is a chart that is a bit dated but it shows the breakdown into each category.
There are roughly 2,000 accounts in the middle class.
Looking at the chart, which goes back to Feb 1st, from a MVest perspective, we can see the middle class plus the Minnows have almost as much HP as the whales.
Again, going back to the ability to gain influence, the smaller accounts can increase their position to a larger degree.
The key is to have a long-term focus with one's account.
If you are a smaller account, say 1K HP, what are you going to do to triple your account and get to 3K HP this year? How would you like to start Next year with 3K, then build from there?
That is the ownership mindset. Treat your account like a business. If we view each coin as digital real estate, are you expanding your empire by amassing more.
The potential impact on one's wealth is obvious. What also should be clear is the effect on the ecosystem. Each time a smaller account increases its influence by an outsized percentage, i.e. g reater than what the larger accounts can do, it adds more resiliency to the ecosystem.
Here is where we see Hive's middle class developing.
Posted Using InLeo Alpha
I was dolphin heading to orca at one point in time, then well, life happens and you have to be grateful for what you have and use it. And after last cycle and getting burned on having so much value staked up, I am doing things a bit differently this go around. Lessons learned. Maybe one day I’ll build it back up when I can get one of these other things to pop off a bit more so I don’t have to keep powering down.
Idk if it’s still available but they used to have a Liquid Hive Power token (LHP) on Hive Engage.
They would delegate HP to you for every 1 LHP you held on Hive Engine without having to power up. Hopefully they still have that going as an option
Never heard of it. But that also defeats the purpose of being able to trade it. They would be taking delegation from me all the time. I’ll just keep with what I am doing.
No familiar with that one.
That makes a lot of sense. We have an obligation to sell the highs and buy the lows to stabilize the Coin Price as @edicted would put it.
I would just say, GREED IS GOOD.
I mean we are not obligated, but… I do like taking profits, 😂
Good :)
That is true. Sometimes life happens in a hard way.
Ah man, in so many hard ways, all at once, lol. 22-23 were rough. But I have rebuilt from zero before, I can do it again.
Yeah. Life as a dude.
It is not an easy path but you do what is in front of you. That is what we do. Have no other choice.
Yep, survive or die… And I ain’t dead yet, so that leaves one choice…
Well three choices:
My fat ass don’t need the second 2, lol, so I’ll take crypto…
Actually fat boy really wants some KK right now, 😂 But I will settle for an apple and a boiled egg from my hens.
Im delegating most of my power but wanna reach dolphin status and then start something like a comunity or become a curator.
Now my vote isn't much, so my plan is keep increasing Power. A strategy to reach that is sell high, buy low and power up more
I am doing the same, buying at low, selling at high, and powering my HP up. Great way to get grow 😀
Just keep building. Consistent activity is a huge help.
Need consistency. For me it's hard the writing part. 😂
I doubt those numbers are meaningful in any way. How much of that middle class are active beyond auto voting? Answer- much less than the total.
Also, as long as the Whales use 100% of their voting power daily their accounts will continue to grow faster than the average 20 accounts in the middle class consistently. (This is an educated assumption, not actual. It could be higher or lower)
If Hive doesn't bring in more active users and retain its current users< which it's not, then all this is just smoke and mirrors and doesn't represent what's actually going on. The economics is flawed and is the reason Hive has long stagnated with no end in sight.
Years of hopium has blinded the builders and they are not making the changes that Web2 users need to see. Also, the average user will never band together long enough to make a real difference. It takes Justin Sun level events for that to happen and is never sustained.
You @taskmaster4450 have made your place here selling hopium, but little of it has actually materialized. So, hopium only sells to those already here and active, but not to prospective users outside of the platform, unfortunately.
It must be nice earning a nice selling hot air. You would be a leader if you concentrated on making what Hive needs happen, rather just trying to rally the troops to do their part. They won't unless they have an example to follow and words aren't actions.
I disagree with this view point. I grew from 0 over a 6 year period and have over 114K HP and believe I can get to whale status within the next 6 years possibly. If you are active and consistent this is up to you. No one said this was easy and even more reason to work even harder because anyone wanting to achieve anything in life has to put the time in to reap any rewards.
And you are representative of the average potential user? Not likely, you need to look way outside of yourself for this one...
Yeah I get that too, but reality is this is available to everyone who puts effort in for a long period of time.
Just curious, how many hours a week do you average on Hive and how many hours for the week you've earned the most? I'm not looking for exact numbers, just the best guess.
Never really checked but would guess 50 hours per week and somewhere around 600 hive being the best week. I used to spend more time, but have cut back. I believe you need time being active to get established.
Right, so more hours than an average full time job for about the earnings of a poor person for just one year, but it took you six. Most won't find Hive worth the effort and is why it has stagnated.
The average user is lazy, a complainer, and simply says give me votes.
And there it is...user.
Are those with stake users? They seem to want prices to go up so their wallet is worth more.
You say I just try to rally the troops? Have many times have I written/spoken about the ownership mindset? That isnt rallying the troops as much as assigning responsibility, something people abhor.
The reality is the same marxist stuff: attack the successful while pointing out what is wrong and the masses are overlooked.
It is a permissionless system. Anyone can post at anytime. They can focus upon layer 1 coins and layer 2 tokens.
Not sure any of that is relevant. How much stake is just sitting here in limbo, because people don't like how the power is distributed here? If you want web2 users then you want people that just want an audience and to earn fairly for their work. Add the politics and you burst the bubble of interest, which is exactly what has happened. Most don't care, won't care and the "revolutionary" tech here doesn't matter nor won't. Hive has set itself up to fail from the beginning and only the few holding onto hopium, but only see through a tunnel stay.
Here's my reply to @mobbs, which is partly relevant here, at least in part,
How is power distributed? It is based upon stake. So what is the issue? The fact that everyone doesnt have the same power?
This is true, or at least for a while. Most didnt care about video conferencing until COVID even though the technology was around for a decade. This is the history of technology. It is always the early adopters who are first.
Yet, if they are here, what are they here for? Is it the rewards or is it a chance to build a brand? Or is it just social media interaction?
In either case, the distribution is not relevant in any of those cases. Oh wait, only in the rewards because people want handouts.
What does this even mean? What is fairly?
Not sure what you mean, but stake weighted power will only be popular with those who have the highest stakes. It's a failed mechanism, other than for allowing an internal economy to survive with just a few people buying and selling.
With tech sure, but not so much with governance. People don't care about the internals of Facebook as long as they can function as they need. If you think the masses will come and the majority will care about anything but earning and audience, then you'll be disappointed. They don't want to be loyal to a product. They just want it to work towards their benefit.
Handouts? So, the Journalist who spends months on a piece is asking for a handout when they expect that piece earns revenue and do it beyond 7 days? I can use this example for many fields, making your statement ridiculous. That's why we don't have professionals using the platform. Hmmm, I wonder why Influencers don't come or when they do, don't stay?
Stake weighted governance is an awful idea and user numbers show that. Also, stake weighted voting is why professionals won't make the earnings they believe are deseved without putting TOO Much effort into it. When the time frame of success here is realized, they leave.
As usual, you HOPIUM sellers only look at the issues with a very narrow perspective, which is why Hive is stagnate...
You can't fix a problem if you don't understand what it is or refuse to see them as a problem...
Nothing more than excuses. Very typical when handed an opportunity.
Is Hive perfect? No. There are a lot of flaws and things missing. However, like most opportunities, it is missed.
Nonsense. My success is due to taking advantage of the opportunity by actually being active. You want success, post more content. It is that simple. Few write more post, do more videos, leave more comments/threads than I. It is really that simple.
There are a lot more network effects other than users. This is only scratching the surface.
A lack of understanding of network effects and ownership. The troops are the ones who own this place. There are also other layers where an increase in activity have impact.
Lol, your posts posts mostly create a potential vision, but that vision falls short of what Hive needs to succeed... Read my other reply to you. It should be its own blog post, but I'm not interested in the near valueless grocery store rewards points distributed here. Understand that and understand why the masses brush Hive aside when it's presented to them.
I am going to be a Dolphin :)
Average Joe for Dictator!!!
This is something super important to be noticed. More power, to more people.
While interesting, it's difficult to know exactly where the middle class is on Hive, especially since these numbers are outdated. My guess is that the middle class is just as stagnant as the platform itself. As @findingfreedom says, the whale accounts will grow faster than the orca and dolphin accounts, but how many of those middle class accounts are actually active? That's an excellent question.
The evidence would suggest otherwise although stagnant is a relative term.
Fair enough.
I just did an updated article about it.
The data is available and I did a comparison over a two year period. The direction is clear. We can debate the pace but we know where things are going.
Cool. I don't have time right now. Provide a link here under this comment and I'll check it out when I can. Probably tomorrow morning.
https://inleo.io/@taskmaster4450/hives-middle-class-gets-stronger-and-people-drop-an-opportunity
But don't forget those whales continue to stack like crazy. The curation rewards and general APR at those levels of hive will take a lot of those middle class people to set it off. However we are seeing more people involved and some more generation of wealth spreading out which is always a good thing.
Yeah although when one whale dumps a million HP on the market, that is a huge shift, depending upon who purchases it.
You hit the nail on the head. People need to be involved.
Very interesting post, "According to Peakd, the #20 witness, the last in consensus, has 66 million votes. This means the "middle class" could vote a witness to the #21 or #22 spot on their own." this part is not true. The Discord Group of the top witnesses just decided to trimm fat on the voting side, they can up their game really fast.
Upwards and Forward, let's keep going Task. The mining process of the Hive Blockchain is one of the best ever thought of and maybe the best implemented so far.
I've been keeping an eye on the rankings and we are up to 180 accounts with over 100k with more likely to get there soon. This 'middle class' will gain more influence. This is why I try to help more people get to at least minnow. They will feel their stake matters more as it grows.
An interesting way to analyze things. It does show how, over time, things shift.
A very important step. It is the proverbial funnel, need more minnows to get more dolphins, which then lead to orcas.
A wider spread of HP is good for Hive in general. We don't want all the power wielded by a few accounts, but the whales still dominate for now.
Wow I did not knew that the middle class on hive.blog had so much Hive power.
It isnt discussed much. People simply believe they are helpless.
Interesting data and analysis about distribution of Hive Power!
In five years on Hive I have worked hard to increase my Hive Power and in 2-3 months I should finally increase the number of orcas :) but I will not stop even if becoming a whale will take years ;)
!discovery 20
@tipu curate
Upvoted 👌 (Mana: 40/50) Liquid rewards.
This is one of those excellent thought-provoking posts that I like 😀
A couple of observations;
First, that the Hive "Middle Class" is a diverse group, so it's unlikely you'll ever see any kind of block vote. Personally, I regard that as a good thing, because although it's less dramatic, it reflects the healthily diverse spread of Hivers.
Second, is that I believe we really, really need to focus earnings away from whales and onto the middle and lower class of Hivers. Right now, curation and author rewards are pleasant but not earth-shaking. The real earnings are going to the top 20 witnesses and developers scooping up DHF funding (often the same people). I'd love to see witness rewards taper down more slowly, so there's less of a sharp cut-off between #20 and #21. I also firmly believe DHF proposals should be scrutinised more carefully, with business cases that identify what the funds are spent on in detail, what success looks like, and how (in layman's terms) the proposal benefits Hive.
I recognise the great work that witnesses and developers do, but there needs to be closer scrutiny and accountability to ensure good cost control. Funds saved that way could then help the middle class grow, which in turn would hopefully help attract new users.
People need to take accountability for what goes on. There are ways to increase one's influence on Hive.
Adding 5 HP is a far cry when the ecosystem doesn’t support those who have been continuously trying to build their account and helping to keep pace with a community.
I have been speaking about to enrich other community rather than Leofinance, but it seems to be less than normal rewarding pool to have that is happening. Whales are busy to vote for a few, and even in Hive - there are massive practices of downvoting and sometimes auto-downvoting without any reason to do so.
Blockchain still has its flows nonetheless, but still hope is there and wait for long time to grow,yet the race is a long time to be achieved.
In real life, there is no way I can reach MC. It's good that Hive is opening such an access. I only need 1,668 HP to reach that 5,750 target.
Your first target is 4,500. Cant get to 5750 without going through that first.
Keep building and the activity up and you will get there.
It will take me two to three months perhaps to add 418 HP.
Nice! Im currently sitting at 5,570. I was looking for the hp or vet levels to reach Dolphin status the other day and couldn’t find it easy enough on hivebuzz.me or hivestats.io. I’m still super excited about reaching Dolphin status this year.
Having that 5,750 HP in mind give me a nice target to shoot for…
Another Dolphin in the making. Keep growing your HP. Increase the activity and you will likely get there faster.
I didn't realize that the gap between the groups are that big. I am still a minnow, and I hope to continue growing my account. I do agree that smaller account should strive to increase their stake.
Every level is a 10x of the level before.
I've followed most of the largest curators and they are mostly voting dumpers.
IF you know someone that isn't voting stake to people that drop it like it's hot, please let me know, I'd like to follow them.
As for the folks dumping what 'we' give them, they don't know what they are giving away for pennies.
It's up to us to not cut our own throats by voting stake to them.
Hindsight is always 20/20/
I think we can pretty accurately predict the outcome of voting stake to dumpers.
Imagine how much faster control would shift from the ninjaminers to the community if the (mostly) ninjaminers weren't taking 50% of the pool day after day and voting it to people that sell it back to them for pennies just as quick as they get it.
IF 'the whales' were interested in transferring control from their few hands to the hands of the many, they would observe a 1000mv vote cap on the pool.
Doing so lowers the height of the hurdle for new investors from having to buy millions of hive, just to gain parity, to 580,000.
A much lower entrance fee.
A much lower dilution rate by the ninjamine.
But, even were 'they' to do that, there is another hill to climb on the horizon and that is the ~30% of hive on the exchanges, not hard to figure out who is holding that.
Certainly not the people dumping hive as fast as it gets voted to them.
Were a large fraction of that hive be powered up, we would be back to where we are now.
No telling how many years it will take to overcome that obstacle to 'community' control.
We could still be at 8usd if folks stopped selling for less.
But, 'It's my money and I need it now! '
Smdh.
It is a promising post that the middle class is growing because it needs to and fast because in my opinion this ship is going down. The only posts that are being read are the controversial ones. The whales are taking the mick with the DHF fund. Valueplan case and point. There is 0 marketing. I don't count buying a rally car as marketing by the way or a bunch of lads jumping around on poles with a couple of Hive tshirts getting 250k per year in HBD. But where is the end game here? If Hive was going to get popular as a use case it would have done so by now. The platform has to move into a gaming platform like Ronin to survive but the ship is rudderless and EVM doesn't look to be coming. Splinterlands are proposing working on the DAO validators which means it could operate on its own chain and ultimately leave Hive. So some accounts may have the 100K plus and great effort put in like yourself but I don't see a happy ending here. The whales will syphon funds out until the price goes to nothing and the people that will be left with worthless tokens will be the middle class. We will fork again and start fresh with the mistakes we made from Hive. Those who post for the joy and the love of it. I made the decision not to have more than 5k in my HP as I do think we will be burnt in the long term and there are other projects on Hive that I can throw my rewards into , Leofinance being one of them that have a more promising future I think.
good
The chart you show looks very interesting and I know exactly where I am right now
Actually sometimes I always admire the structure that hive plays and it has a way of playing out things as expected and this is great to see as expected because not all projects have witnesses that hive has that helped to run things out
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good perspective. Thanks.
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