There seems to be a small uptick in the number of Hive accounts in the past month. Its still a lot smaller than what has been in the past, but worth noting it. What is causing this?
Let’s take a look!
There are now close to 2.5M Hive accounts. Unlike the other blockchains like BTC or ETH, Hive has human readable account names. This comes at a cost as the chain needs to store these values forever. That’s why the Hive accounts are not free and unlimited to mint, as each of them is a type of NFT.
Hive accounts can be minted from the current HP holders using RCs credits if they have enough HP/RCs. Otherwise, they can be minted with HIVE at a cost of 3 HIVE per account. This cost is set from the witnesses.
The option for creating accounts with RCs, or sometimes perceived as the free accounts require users to first claim account as an account token, that can be then used for creating accounts. Not all claimed accounts are created. Claimed accounts are not transferable yet.
Here we will be looking into the following:
- Number of accounts created per day
- Number of accounts created per month and year
- HIVE burned for creating accounts
- Total accounts created
- Claimed VS Created accounts
- Top accounts creators
- Top accounts claims
For context we will be looking at the period from the very beginning of the chain, March 2016 till today., with a focus on 2022-2023.
Number Of Accounts Created
Here is the chart for the overall accounts created.
Here we can see the two spikes in the overall period of Hive existence. First in 2017, especially towards the end of 2017 and the beginning of 2018.
The second spike is in September 2021 where on occasions there were more than 20k accounts created in a day. This was because of the demand for accounts coming from Splinterlands at the time.
If we zoom in 2022-2023 we get this:
A steady downtrend from 1k to around 100 accounts created daily in 2022, and then an uptrend towards the end of April 2023.
The monthly chart for new accounts looks like this:
We can notice the overall downtrend here as well, from 12k to 3.5k, and the uptrend again n April, reaching a 10k accounts.
On a yearly basis we have this:
The record high year in creating new accounts has been 2021 when there were 910k accounts created. In the last year, 2022, there was 100k accounts created. Back in the previous bull run, in 2018 there was a record high of 600k accounts on a yearly basis.
The influx of new accounts in 2021 happened mostly because of the Splinterlands, that created most of the accounts in that year.
2023 is still young, and util now there is around 23k accounts created.
Total Accounts Created
When we sum the above, we get this.
We can see here the increase in the numbers of accounts in 2017, when the accounts number reached more than 1M. Then a period with a gradual increase and then even steeper growth in 2021, and now again a slow down.
At the moment there is 2.46M Hive accounts.
For the whole of 2022, there are around 800k accounts that made some type of operation.
HIVE Burned For Creating Accounts
As mentioned above there is a cost for the HIVE accounts, RCs, or 3 HIVE. Here is the chart for the HIVE burned for creating accounts.
This is an all time chart, starting from 2016.
Cumulative there is 4.5M HIVE burned for creating accounts in the whole period.
We can notice the sharp growth back in September 2021, this again because of the demand for HIVE accounts for Splinterlads. Almost 2M HIVE was burned back then.
Since then, the line has been almost flat.
But if we zoom in daily, we get this:
Here we can notice the amount of HIVE burned in April has increased by a lot. More than 1k HIVE was burned on a few days.
When we look who is doing this, its mostly the @hive-recovery account that keeps creating accounts. Not sure what this is exactly for, the creator of the account is hivedex.io, that is the web for the internal market created from @mahdiyari, so maybe he has some further info.
Claimed VS Created Accounts
Claimed accounts are like sort of a buffer of accounts. Accounts with high HP claim accounts that later can be used for accounts creation. Not all claimed accounts are created.
Here is the chart for claimed VS created accounts.
There as some oscillations in the number of claimed accounts per day, but overall, the number is around 2100 accounts claimed daily.
The number of accounts created can vary a lot. Starting from August 2021 the number of accounts created surpassed the number of accounts claimed by a lot. In 2022 the number dropped.
If we zoom in 2022-2023 we get this:
We can see the increase in the accounts created per day in the last month, but it is still lower than the claimed ones.
On average 170 accounts per day were created in 2023.
Around 3.5M accounts were claimed, while somewhere around 1M accounts tokens have been used. This means that users on Hive hold around 2.5M accounts creation tokens.
Top Accounts Creators
Here is who created most of the accounts in 2023.
@ocdb is on the top with almost 6k accounts created, followed by @leo.voter and @hive-recovery.
@steemmonsters, the formal absolute champion in creating accounts is on the fourth place in 2023.
Interesting that the @leo.voter is on the second spot now, with all the development happening there now.
Top Accounts Claims
At the end the chart for who has claimed most of the accounts in 2023.
This chart mostly follows the HP holdings that the accounts have.
@ocdb has is on the top with more than 30k accounts claimed, followed by the @appreciator account on the second spot. @blocktrades comes on the third spot.
Summary
There has been a modest increase in the number of Hive accounts created in the recent period, although it is smaller compared to previous periods.
The total number of accounts stands at around 2.5 million. The trend shows a decline in daily account creation in 2022, followed by an uptick in April 2023. HIVE burned for creating accounts has remained relatively stable, with a recent increase in April.
@ocdb has been the top creator, with the @leo.voter claimbing the ranks and reaching the second spot. The @hive-recovery account is on the top in terms of creating Hive accounts for a fee, burning HIVE in the process.
All the best
@dalz
Looking at leo.voter in the top 2 of account creators doesnt surprise me, the leo team has been busy with their threads project. @dalz I noticed you used Threads back in April. The UI is much smoother, there are less bugs, & the interactions are more lively. It might be worth coming back & trying it again, it could be a dapp that helps keep retention of newer users higher. Thanks for breaking all this info down and posting the charts for us to see all the communal growth.
I'm deep in the leo ecosystem and making the leo.stats :)
My leo stake is on my alt dalz1 account. But with the launch of the latest iteration since May 1st, it simply doesnt work for me. I'm patiantly waiting for a more stable version to use it :) Meanwhile I'm upvoting from other frontends.
Good to hear. Hopefully there's something that will peak your interest in a few weeks. Thanks for continuing support & upvote as well 🚀 If you do happen to drop in @ me 🙌
Fascinating data - thank you !
I guess another key piece of data would be the number of active accounts, assuming a definition could be agreed of what counts as active. I appreciate there are quite a few accounts that serve a purpose other than just posting and commenting, which I feel should still be included - perhaps it should be measured by blockchain activity rather than post counts.
Any community is going to have "churn", and it would be good to understand the balance of new accounts vs active ones and people going inactive. Then we can consider what causes people to stop being active and if there's anything that can be done to prevent it (assuming we want to - we can't force people to be active !)
Thanks!
I do post a report on active accounts, by type of operations on chain, usualy stuctured in four categories, posting, voting, transfering coins, and custom json / gaming operation. If you go throu my old post you will find one. Or maybe wait a day or two for a new to come out, as that is the next one to be posted :)
Cool ! Being a bit of a data-head, this is just the kind of stuff I love - I look for the patterns and try to work out what the underlying causes could be 😀
Thanks for the great overview Dalz. Appreciated.
U welcome!
More hive accounts are about to be created in the future
It's interesting to see this kind of analysis. Puts things into a rather unique perspective.
Had no idea hive is burned when accounts are created...
I guess a lot of people are being sensitized about how Hive works and that is why we see new users joining. Also, the interests we earn on HBD savings is quite attractive and I see it as a way of motivating people to join Hive.
Wao! This is amazing. I admire the way you are able to put these things into details and share here. I add that the number of new accounts on #hive is as a result of the rewarding nature of hive. We get to receive a lot and also learn about crypto. Weldone.
Hey, I noticed you used Threads back in [MONTH in the spreadsheet]. The User interface works better now, maybe you want to give it another try!
Thank you for this comprehensive post about Hive accounts. I enjoyed reading it and learnt from it :)
Good to know. Have a nice day.
I think the inflation all around the world is increasing at a rapid pace and people are trying to find more ways to make money, and you know HIve is the best place to become a second source of income, especially for a growing country like ours. This increase shows that the adoption is increasing.