# Intro It's been well established that steemit.com has been censoring content, [they even admit it](https://steempeak.com/steem/@steemitblog/we-are-making-good-progress). I think the community has more than established that we reject this behavior and most of us are moving on to Hive. I have an idea to make use of our STEEM accounts that would otherwise remain dormant and I'm looking for the community's feedback to see if this makes sense. # My Update Obviously, I've been pretty quiet around here. There's a much bigger story behind this, but life has asked a LOT out of me for nearly two years and now my life has been turned upside down. I've been doing a variety of consulting projects and I've admittedly gotten a little lazy and have found all of my eggs in one basket as nearly all of my income comes from one client. This client runs a travel agency. Now, with corona virus, they are literally out of business and have stopped all of my work. As I reach out to old clients and pursue new projects, I'm seeing a lot of panic and worry and I'm starting to worry that life is going to become much more difficult as I have not found any new work to replace that income. I believed in STEEM, but had real concerns that have amazingly mostly been removed with Hive. I'm excited to get active again and see if I can find some cool projects to work on with Hive. I guess this is my farewell gift to STEEM. # Fill the chain with censored content In the simplest sense, I propose that we start reposting everything that Steemit decides to censor. They literally [list the post_ids and accounts in github](https://github.com/steemit/condenser/blob/3394af78127bdd8d037c2d49983b7b9491397296/src/app/utils/steemApi.js) so it's not too difficult to find the missing posts. Now, I found that there is no API call to pass a `post_id` and get the post so finding these hasn't been simple. If anyone knows a way to get posts by post_id please let me know. I have put together a database of 45 censored posts and I want to keep adding more as this continues. I want to get some validation from the community before I take this all the way so for now I'm picking just a handful of posts to start. I'm going to repost these with the tag #censoredpost along with a link to the original post. For now, I'm doing this mostly manual, but if there's a lot of interest, I could write some scripts to automate the posting so everyone can repost this stuff and fill the chain. For now, I'm going to include the data for those posts I'm reposting so anyone can jump in now. Let's do everything we can to push back against the tyranny of censorship. # Posts to repost Just to be clear, repost these to the STEEM blockchain, *not* on HIVE please. ###### Title: #censoredpost repost - Steemit Inc now censors posts from the UI ###### Original post: [https://www.steempeak.com/@themarkymark/steemit-inc-now-censors-posts-from-the-ui](https://www.steempeak.com/@themarkymark/steemit-inc-now-censors-posts-from-the-ui) ###### Tags: censoredpost, steem, censorship, justinsun, newsteemitinc, hive, palnet, neoxian ![image.png](https://files.steempeak.com/file/steempeak/themarkymark/U7e6W9cD-image.png) As you may have heard, there is a fork tomorrow to start a new chain called Hive. You can read all about it in the announcement post [here](https://steempeak.com/communityfork/@hiveio/announcing-the-launch-of-hive-blockchain). If you are still using Steemit.com, this post will be censored and blocked from showing up. # Steemit View https://i.imgur.com/nW8GLIw.png # Steempeak View https://i.imgur.com/YsycDhz.png Many users have completely switched to using Steempeak because of concerns what Steemit Inc (aka Justin Sun) may do. This is a good example of what we feared would happen. If you continue to use Steemit.com you may not have access to all content on the blockchain. I also noticed this morning my account was set into Korean mode and I had to fumble around to switch it back. ![image.png](https://files.steempeak.com/file/steempeak/themarkymark/ennNei34-image.png) The list of posts blacklisted is growing. You can see the code related to this change and how they implemented the blacklist on [GitHub](https://github.com/steemit/condenser/compare/bridge-api-dev...bridge-api-dev-test). Some of the posts that have been filtered out of the UI ``` https://steemit.com/@anyx/it-s-time-to-decentralize https://steemit.com/@hiveio/announcing-the-launch-of-hive-blockchain https://steemit.com/@steempeak/hive-and-url-changes https://steemit.com/@steemitboard/steemitboard-shutdown-by-justin-sun https://steemit.com/@roelandp/fork-you-hello-hive-my-new-home-are-you-coming-along-the-place-will-be-buzzing https://steemit.com/@coruscate/acwmtxdz https://steemit.com/@blocktrades/why-i-won-t-be-compromising-with-justin-sun https://steemit.com/@andrarchy/i-support-hive https://steemit.com/@smooth/hive-fork-announcement-smooth-and-burnpost https://steemit.com/@taskmaster4450/hive-to-go-live-friday-sometimes-a-step-back-is-a-step-forward ``` ###### Title: #censoredpost repost - Why I won’t be compromising with Justin Sun ###### Original post: [https://www.steempeak.com/@blocktrades/why-i-won-t-be-compromising-with-justin-sun](https://www.steempeak.com/@blocktrades/why-i-won-t-be-compromising-with-justin-sun) ###### Tags: censoredpost, steemit, cryptocurrency At this point, it seems like most of the community is in agreement on one thing: they don’t want Justin Sun here. The primary disagreement seems to be how to achieve that. From what I’ve been told, even Justin himself has said he doesn’t want to be here. He just wants to get paid to leave. So the purpose of this post is to list the reasons why I don’t think it’s a good idea to pay him to leave and why I won’t be participating in any such deal via coding support, money (among other ideas, I’ve been told via intermediaries that Justin would happily sell Steemit to me now), or even as a simple endorsement of a deal. What’s the value of Steemit Inc now? # In my opinion, Steemit Inc has nearly zero value now ### Wait, what about the Steemit stake it holds? While it controls a stake with a quoted value of many millions, it will never be possible to realize that value now. My best guess is that it is worth around $200K USD, and that's only if the owner considers it ethical to dump the stake that was promised for development. My estimate of its dump value being so low is because it can only be dumped slowly, which will give the market time to see what's coming. This is also one of the big reasons why Justin is lobbying to get the powerdown rate changed to something like a day. The faster he can dump it, the more value he can get from gullible buyers who think they are getting coins cheaply, never understanding that the coins they are buying will never regain their value, because all the value is going to leave (more on this point shortly). Time is not on his side in such a dump, because the more information people have, the more they will realize that what he’s selling won’t be worth buying. As a side note, all the above is one reason Steemit got sold to Justin to begin with, in my opinion. Ned has dealt with Steem long enough to know that he was unlikely to extract the value just by dumping it and he didn’t have a plan for how to profit by using it for development (he tried that and failed already). So instead he sold the company for less than half the value of the Steemit stake and was happy with the deal. ### Wait, what about the IP and developers? When Justin acquired it, Steemit absolutely had some strong value, in the form of intellectual property, branding, and experienced blockchain and frontend developers. But now, all the developers he acquired are gone (they’ve all quit). ### Branding, good will? Despite all the mistakes it has made, Steemit Inc also had some good branding and good will from its role in starting the Steem blockchain. But almost immediately, Justin began destroying that via his public statements and actions. I don’t want to rehash that, because almost everyone else has already deeply analyzed those actions (most reasonably with a few bizarre exceptions). At this point, Steemit Inc itself has no community to support the value of a coin it controls: the only community here is the Steem community, not the Steemit community, and it mostly wants nothing to do with Justin (some are even willing to pay him to leave). # What option does the Steem community have if it won’t compromise? Before long, we will launch a new coin that is essentially a re-branded hardfork of Steem, airdropped on all Steemians, without airdropping to the Steemit stake. This new chain will maintain all our collected posts and our transaction info and will support all the same Dapps we’ve come to know and love. I believe all the economic value will move to this new chain and the chain with Justin's stake will ultimately just die. He can keep his chain running for a while, trying to find uninformed people to sell it to, but it’s not going to last long with no devs, no real plan from Justin on how to keep it alive, and most of all, no community to support it. In other words, I believe the value in your existing Steem coin account will migrate to a value in this new coin. And I believe the value (i.e. the price) of the existing chain will just drop as Justin dumps on that chain. I see this as a big win for the community and particularly existing Steem holders, as we free ourselves from an entity that has just been dumping on us economically for a long time, without properly returning that value with enough technical development or publicity. Another cool thing, from a marketing perspective, is we will be a literal demonstration of how a community is what gives a coin value. We should make every effort to capitalize on this in cryptocurrency media, just as we’ve done so far in our DPOS vote fight with Justin. # Does the community have the skills to operate a blockchain? We have more developers committing to work on this new chain than we’ve ever had before. We already have a team of 36 experienced developers, including key devs that were involved in the initial development and maintenance of Steem. And new developers are joining us daily. By contrast, from what I know, Steemit had 4 devs, and currently has none at all. And we don’t just have devs, we have marketing people, business people, artists, and idealists. Our combined efforts can do far more than a narrow-minded, profit-driven Steemit ever dreamed possible. As many here know, the community constantly reached out to try to help Steemit, and was continually rebuffed. We plan to be be the opposite of that, with an all-inclusive, decentralized approach to development, marketing, and on-boarding. # Does the community have the resources to launch a blockchain? Yes, we do. It’s actually much easier for us to launch a chain, because of the many lessons we’ve had operating the Steem blockchain. And as far as financial resources go, several prominent Steem stakeholders have privately offered both computing resources and significant financial support, including my own company, BlockTrades. Even at this early stage, I’m utterly convinced we have sufficient support to launch and develop this new blockchain. We’re also already hard at work lowering the costs of operating the servers that power the Steem ecosystem (web sites and Dapps). We’ve identified key areas where we can dramatically reduce operating costs over the costs paid by Steemit and we’ll be ready by launch to deploy these higher efficiency API nodes and services. # But isn’t compromise always better? One of the first things we’re taught as children and often taught again in life, is the importance of compromise. Generally speaking, compromise is often a good idea. But compromise is not always the right choice: 1) it usually fails when you can't trust the other party to keep a compromise agreement and 2) it doesn't make sense to compromise if the resulting value trade is uneven. Both of these apply in this case, I believe. Making any kind of deal with Justin at this point would just be a case of handing over dollars that we can use for development to a guy who can still go after Ned for financial restitution as well. Any payment to Justin represents both an economic loss to us and a potential financial win for him (since if we pay him off to leave, he can even potentially profit off a legal recovery from Ned too). From both an economic and moral perspective, it makes no sense to compromise with Justin. # What about exchange listings? Some of our community depends on the ability to translate their Steem into fiat money. They will not be forgotten in this move. To protect them, we will need to get exchange listings. We’ve been in promising talks with some exchanges already, without disclosing too many details to them, and I’m sure we will be able to obtain plenty of listings as we show that our chain is the true community chain. But no matter, I’ll do whatever it takes to make sure we have one exchange listing within days after launch. # We win by fighting, not by compromising The ongoing fight with Justin has been and will continue to be a huge publicity win for us. We are getting more publicity now than we have had in a long time. Steem has long been ignored by most of the crypto-space as a failed project of Dan Larimer. We are now being giving the opportunity to show that the community we have is so much more than that, and that we can emerge under the umbrella of a new coin, as a dominant player in decentralized blockchain development. Our strength is the personal contacts we have with each other. We are not just strange looking addresses on a blockchain, we share more than just number transactions, we share ideas, beliefs, and fellowship with each other. # More to come Now, one thing I haven’t done here is lay out all the details of what we will do with our new, revitalized chain. There’s a lot of ideas for that, and some obvious first steps. But the long term plan is one we will need to build together. The important thing now is to align on what we value and how we want to approach the future. Not everyone on Steem may stick with us, and we have to accept that. But we should reach out where we can, if only to save them from losing money investing in a Justin-run chain (that is mostly why I’m writing this post now, even though I haven’t had a chance to express all of my own ideas or the ideas of others for future work). ###### Title: #censoredpost repost - It's Time to Decentralize ###### Original post: [https://www.steempeak.com/@anyx/it-s-time-to-decentralize](https://www.steempeak.com/@anyx/it-s-time-to-decentralize) ###### Tags: censoredpost, hive, community ![](https://i.imgur.com/YXNygGA.png) A lot has happened in the last few weeks. I personally just got off a 24 hour plane ride, dropping into a quarantined city. It is a stressful time for many of us. These last few weeks on Steem have been historic. You may not have agreed with the temporary availability limit of the utility of the Steemit Inc dev fund. But you should certainly understand now, that that decision was enacted in attempt to stop the exact situation that immediately followed -- autocratic centralized control over the system. A lot has happened since. As others have already explained, and most of you all have witnessed it first hand, I won't dive into those details. What matters now is how we proceed. ## The Community Matters A long time ago in Steem, we had a very contentious hardfork: HF 17. I had posted [my thoughts on it here](https://steempeak.com/witness-category/@anyx/my-opinion-on-the-upcoming-v17-hardfork), and ended the note with my opinions on the political situation. With Steemit Inc. employees (@ned) swaying governance -- even lightly -- the ability to oppose the hard fork was difficult. After suggesting we consider the ramifications of that hard fork, I was voted out of my witness position by @ned, which [I wrote about here](https://steempeak.com/witness-category/@anyx/i-made-the-mistake-of-voicing-my-concerns-about-the-upcoming-hardfork). During this era, the community rallied against the use of Steemit Inc. stake to influence governance on Steem. The community convinced Steemit employees to avoid voting on governance. However, the Steemit Inc. stake as well as the dev fund, still had the power to control the chain whenever they wished. In Canadian corporate law, [we have a notion of *de facto* and *de jure* control considerations](https://gowlingwlg.com/en/insights-resources/articles/2016/the-federal-court-of-appeal-clarifies-the-de-facto/), which means that their ability to unilaterally control the system -- regardless of their applied use of that control or not -- implies that they are in fact the sole controlling entity and owner of that system. Despite our community voice, we have continued down the path of de-facto Steemit Inc. control. Over the past few years, we all pretended to be a decentralized system, and @ned let us play in the sandbox, so long as we stayed within the boundaries. Under new hands, this control Steemit had was applied again -- and this time in total force. The community response was able to garner enough support together to oppose *total* centralized control and enter a stalemate, showing a clear sign: the community we have here is the true value of this system. ## The Importance of Decentralization When we think about decentralization, many often think of "no single point of failure". Recently, @jesta [made excellent commentary here](https://twitter.com/Jesta187/status/1236402928849686530) in regards to our current situation, as well as the decentralization of a DPOS system. One quote I really like is the following; *"should a token holder controlling enough stake in a DPOS system be allowed to eliminate the system?"* In my opinion, the situation today is even more clear. When it's not even a regular token holder, but the controller of the dev fund -- intended to promote the growth of the system -- is used to enact total autocratic control over the system, with intent to destroy or migrate it, that system no longer is functioning as a decentralized community driven one. I have written a lot about decentralization in the past. Two posts worth a read are here: - [What Makes a 'dApp' a 'dApp'?](https://steempeak.com/steem/@anyx/what-makes-a-dapp-a-dapp) - [Fully Decentralizing dApps](https://steempeak.com/steem/@anyx/fully-decentralizing-dapps) It is important to understand that a system that is centralized has no reason to use a DLT or a blockchain. These systems are designed with "anti-trust" in mind -- I do not have to trust you to interact with you in a trustable way, so long as the system remains secure. With an autocratic dev fund, and an iron grip on governance installing puppets and pawns, this system has failed. Like a failed state, this is a failed chain. This is not something worth continuing to support. ## My Infrastructure Shift A system is only as good as the resources backing it. Running one of [the largest API nodes by volume](https://steempeak.com/steem/@anyx/a-day-in-the-life-of-a-steem-api), I know my infrastructure is important for the continuation of this community. You can read more about my infrastructure in the SPS proposal post [here](https://steempeak.com/sps/@anyx/proposal-funding-for-anyx-io-infrastructure-recurrent-costs). **After the airdrop, all `anyx.io` infrastructure will be pointing towards the new Hive blockchain.** I am not a fan of politics. This is not a choice I make lightly. But I have no interest in supporting a system that is centralized. I am also not tribalistic. As an academic, I enjoy discussing systems and their properties. It is no secret that I am also a core member of @greymass, which is block producer and supporter of many EOSIO chains. Greymass also recently said we would [help advise the ex-Steemit Inc developers](https://steempeak.com/socialblockchain/@andrarchy/announcing-the-social-blockchain-working-group) as they discuss their future plans. I will personally continue to avoid politics and give advice wherever I can about how to create a decentralized, distributed, cryptographically secure system. Yet, as Justin Sun has hostilely taken over Steem, there is no reason for myself to continue supporting this system. As Steem departs from a decentralized model, my last parting academic advice is as follows: I encourage those remaining on Steem to shift their underlying system over to a traditional database in postgres or RocksDB, colocated within a single datacenter, to improve performance and reduce latency. Using DLT for a centralized system is like using a spoon to shovel dirt. Know the purpose of the technology you are using. ## It's Time to Decentralize Now, the choice is in your hands. Hive will truly be run by the community. No longer will you have to appeal to a centralized entity or authority to propose or implement changes to the system. You must convince the members of the system itself. This new system will have its positives and its negatives for sure, but I know I have personally been held back on my own desires because of the centralized nature of this chain. Without a single entity that can shut down your voice, this system will have the ability -- good or bad as that is -- to run in a purely decentralized way. Yet, without a dev fund, we will have to rely on each other. We can use the new proposal system to, together, in a decentralized way, build our new home. This new home will be what we make of it. It will be a long road to solve problems in the system we are inheriting. There will be growing pains. But if you believe -- truly believe -- in taking steps towards decentralized future, this is the step we must now take. I hope you will take it with me. --- **[Learn more about Hive here](https://steempeak.com/communityfork/@hiveio/announcing-the-launch-of-hive-blockchain).** More information to come soon; many of us have been working hard and will continue to do so to make this launch successful. ###### Title: #censoredpost repost - God Hive the Steem! ###### Original post: [https://www.steempeak.com/@gtg/god-hive-the-steem](https://www.steempeak.com/@gtg/god-hive-the-steem) ###### Tags: censoredpost, witness-category, witness-update, hive, steem Steem is not a place, not even a name. I have repeated this over and over again for weeks now. I’ve been dedicated to Steem since my day one here. I’ve never powered down for all of those years. ![Witness](https://files.steempeak.com/file/steempeak/gtg/wxVn6Gp0-witness.jpeg) # The Fork is coming For systems like Steem, a fork is an update that affects the rules of the blockchain. Unlike the previous 22 forks in the history of Steem, this one is special. I don't want to repeat what has already been written. If you live under a rock, here are some posts for you to read: - [Why I won’t be compromising with Justin Sun](https://steempeak.com/steem/@blocktrades/why-i-won-t-be-compromising-with-justin-sun) - [Announcing the Launch of Hive Blockchain](https://steempeak.com/communityfork/@hiveio/announcing-the-launch-of-hive-blockchain) - [It's Time to Decentralize](https://steempeak.com/hive/@anyx/it-s-time-to-decentralize) For over a month, I have been working tirelessly with over a hundred people to prepare for the update. > -_"It's not possible."_ > -_"No, it's necessary."_ >_{- Interstellar} Yes, this update changes the name of the blockchain and the name of the assets. Yes, I’m sorry to have to leave the Steem name and logo behind. Yes, we are struggling and we will struggle with a lot of issues related to the move. > _“This is a classic ideological split: the people who actively want a centralized chain can stay on Steem, the ones that don't will build Hive.”_ I will continue to do what I have been doing so far, for the same reason, for the same people, for the same friends. For those of you who will build Hive with me. # Steem after the fork Those who won’t update Steem to Hive will continue to operate in a “parallel universe” on a centralized platform that we knew as Steem. I see no point in supporting the old version, for the same reasons why I didn’t support the parallel versions running HF 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20 or 21 code after the updates. Because this is an unprecedented situation and everything is happening on very short notice, I will stay around on for a while to help Steemians upgrade/move to Hive. I will also start the powerdown process on Steem some time after the fork. ## _“I am a bomb technician, if you see me running, try to catch up”_ See you in the Hive! ###### Title: #censoredpost repost - Hive - The Blockchain for Web 3.0 ###### Original post: [https://www.steempeak.com/@therealwolf/hive-the-blockchain-for-web-3-0](https://www.steempeak.com/@therealwolf/hive-the-blockchain-for-web-3-0) ###### Tags: censoredpost, hive As most of you can probably relate, it's been a rough couple of weeks. Not only did we have to fight for our blockchain against a hostile takeover by he, who shall not be named. Our global economy is also on the brink of collapse, a pandemic is rolling over the world and BTC is crashing like there's no tomorrow. What a time to be alive, eh? Well, the darkest nights produce the brighest stars. And I can honestly say that the past couple of weeks, while being very exhausting, brought out massive positive changes. --- ![image.png](https://files.steempeak.com/file/steempeak/therealwolf/l3qdk9a2-image.png) ---

Working on solutions

Over the last month, ever since the acquisition of Steemit Inc, I've been a part of many individuals working on solutions to save our blockchain from a hostile takeover. The Steemit Inc ninjamine has always been a major risk inside this ecosystem, but over the last couple of weeks, it became obvious that this risk to our decentralised governance was unbearable, and that the only real solution would be to find away to move forward without this baggage. Working out a solution was far from easy. It was quite difficult and there were many many hours spent discussing about names, brands, goals, ideals and everything else relevant to a solution. In the end, the consensus was formed around a fork with the name: **Hive**

Hive - The Blockchain for Web 3.0

In the next couple of days, I'm going to publish another post going deeper into my thought process around Hive and what this means to Steem, etc. But for now, I just wanted to get out a quick statement, since I've been deeply involved with Hive. And I'm excited that the news is finally out and to see that so many members of this community, that grew quite dear to my heart over the last couple of years, are in support of Hive. (not nec. against Steem, but simply in support of Hive).

Hive.io

The biggest reason why I'm so excited about Hive, is the fact that this community has so many great developers & contributors, and we're now able to create a home for all of us, without a ninjamine. And while I'm not a blockchain developer, I learned a lot while developing various project on/for Steem. Hence, it was only obvious for me that I wanted to develop the new website: ![image.png](https://files.steempeak.com/file/steempeak/therealwolf/kWE9uVxJ-image.png) ### > [hive.io](https://hive.io) Once Hive is actually running in the near future, there will be a lot more on the website to see, but for now, it's minimalistic and simple! With this said: Much love to all of you! Steem will always live on, regardless of the branding. Take care of yourself & Hive/Steem on! Wolf ###### Title: #censoredpost repost - I Support Hive ###### Original post: [https://www.steempeak.com/@andrarchy/i-support-hive](https://www.steempeak.com/@andrarchy/i-support-hive) ###### Tags: censoredpost, hive, hiveio https://steemitimages.com/0x0/https://files.steempeak.com/file/steempeak/hiveio/4WaiXF2y-opengraph3x.png Hey everyone, it’s been an intense couple of weeks, and things remain quite hectic for me as I turn my full attention to [OpenSeed and OpenLink](https://steemit.com/hive-152786/@openseed/openlink-the-gateway-to-openseed-and-steem). Some people have asked me if I've been involved with Hive so in the interest of making sure that those who deserve praise for their work get it, I just want to be clear that I was not. People like @gtg, @netuoso, @howo, @therealwolf, and obviously @blocktrades deserve the credit for all their hard work, in addition to so many more community contributors (too many to mention). Congratulations to everyone involved in the effort and all of those who are doing such a good job of spreading the word. To learn more about Hive, go [here](https://steempeak.com/communityfork/@hiveio/announcing-the-launch-of-hive-blockchain).

OpenSeed and OpenLink

My plan now is to turn my attention to [OpenSeed and OpenLink](https://steemit.com/hive-152786/@openseed/openlink-the-gateway-to-openseed-and-steem) which are being built to bridge users from multiple blockchains. Regardless of what blockchain a user prefers, whether Hive or EOS or Ethereum, we believe they should have access to amazing blockchain-powered user experiences. What matters to me is this amazing community I have been privileged to be a part of for the last 4 years. These difficult circumstances have only validated the very reason I joined this community in the first place, which is that it contains so many amazing (intelligent, talented, committed, thoughtful, etc.) individuals. I look forward to continuing to be a part of this community for years to come, no matter where on the internet they live. ###### Title: #censoredpost repost - Announcing the Launch of Hive Blockchain ###### Original post: [https://www.steempeak.com/@hiveio/announcing-the-launch-of-hive-blockchain](https://www.steempeak.com/@hiveio/announcing-the-launch-of-hive-blockchain) ###### Tags: censoredpost, communityfork, hive, steemcommunity, steem ![](https://files.steempeak.com/file/steempeak/hiveio/4WaiXF2y-opengraph3x.png) # The buzz is real! **After weeks of hard teamwork, we're announcing the launch of the new Hive blockchain.** This is an exciting time, and an opportunity to channel the love and power of a resilient and tenacious community into collaborative development for the future of social blockchain. Hive is a passionate effort, created by a large group of Steem community members who have long looked to move towards true decentralization and to help develop the code base. The years of distribution issues and reliance on a central entity for code and infrastructure has been at the heart of a revolution of sorts, and the new Hive blockchain is the culmination of stepping up to meet the challenge of returning to shared values of protecting and celebrating the vibrant community that has grown around our ecosystem. # Check out the FAQ below for info on the launch of Hive.

## What is Hive and why was it created? **Hive is a DPOS governance blockchain created by implementing a hard fork of existing Steem code.** The intention of this community-driven fork is to support and build on the strong Steem community values that have made our ecosystem so diverse and exciting. This new direction steps away from the burden of the Steemit Inc. ninja-mined stake, which has impacted the long term ability to work towards further development and decentralization for years. Hive has begun with a talented and committed team of community developers who are already paving the way to implement much awaited improvements and robust new developments to the blockchain. It is exciting to see the community – from devs and business owners to passionate end users – stepping forward to embrace and contribute to the potential of Hive. This renewed spirit, combined with a renewed codebase and a focus on working more closely with the entire ecosystem, is key to the success and possibilities for the future of social blockchain.
## What is the difference between Hive and Steem? Hive is a fork of the Steem blockchain and runs completely independently from the existing chain. All valid accounts on the Steem blockchain will receive an airdrop on Hive. *(more details below)* While the Hive chain is a fork of the Steem code, the intention is to take responsibility to build something even better. The initial Hive launch will be a direct copy of existing blockchain with a few small upgrades, which will allow us to get back to community discussion on the direction for future development, needed changes, and most wanted chain-level features. The spirit of Steem and the goal of decentralization has always been to move away from a single point of authority, and to capitalize on and encourage the potential that has gathered in our community. Hive is drawing on the huge range of talent in our ecosystem to accelerate development, improve communication, and return to a focus on ease of use, onboarding, and marketing. The desire to move towards better decentralization and to connect people via blockchain has never been lost, and it's what makes Hive so needed now.
## What happens when Hive launches? When The Hive blockchain launches, existing Steem accounts will appear on the Hive Network as well. You will have two accounts: the current one on the Steem, and a new Hive account, which will be pre-populated with all of your current Steem content and information. The history of these two accounts will be the same, but from the snapshot point onward, the accounts will be independent from one another. Actions you take on one network will not be reflected on the other. This means that future content and transactions will belong to whichever account you use. #### If you post on Hive, ***it will not show up*** on Steem, and vice versa. The two chains will be completely independent of one another after launch.
## When will Hive launch? **The Hive blockchain launch will be at 10am EST/14:00 UTC, Friday, March 20th.** (*countdown at https://hive.io/*) All of the magic will happen this week! The snapshot and airdrop will take place back to back at the time of launch.
## Where can I find Hive's code? Here is the public open source repo for Hive: ### https://github.com/openhive-network/hive/releases
## As a STEEM holder, what do I get in the Hive airdrop? All valid STEEM stakeholders will receive a perfectly mirrored balance of their current STEEM holdings in the new HIVE coin. This will include matching amounts of current liquid STEEM, Steem Power, and SBD. All other account state data, such as claimed accounts, delegations, etc. will be mirrored onto Hive. For example: if your Steem account has 10 STEEM, 5 SBD, and 1000 SP, your new Hive account will have 10 HIVE, 5 HBD, and 1000 HP. **You will not need to claim anything.** Simply log in with your existing Steem account details and you will have your new HIVE coins in your wallet and be able to start using the blockchain. #### The Hive airdrop will *only* be performed on the current version of the Steem blockchain (as of the date of this post). Any "emergency hardforks" performed prior to the airdrop will not be eligible. Further, any exchange that participates in such a hardfork prior to the airdrop date will null and void the ability to participate in the airdrop for its off-chain balance holding customers.
## How do I access my Hive account to post content and send Hive coins? You can access your Hive account by simply logging in on the Hive Network using your existing Steem account keys. The first frontend available will be https://hive.blog. This is currently pointed at the Steem blockchain, but will be switched to Hive at launch time. Other popular interfaces are completing the switch over to Hive or finishing new products, and will be announcing when they are ready to use!
## Who is behind the development of Hive? There are currently over 30 experienced developers contributing to the new ecosystem, alongside many committed community members working on multiple aspects of Hive. These individuals may announce their participation through their own accounts in the future. This a true community effort, and therefore is open to all. ***Hive will remain open source, and open to everyone who wants to contribute to the future development of the blockchain.*** Testnet will be available after this post is published, so feel free to comment here if you would like to access and we'll reach out. The full codebase will move to a public repo on Thursday, March 19th, prior to launch. *Updates will be made to this post and via this account.*
## What improvements have been added? The most important improvements and decisions will be made after initial launch with a chance for proper feedback from the community. To successfully launch, there are some aspects that needed to be addressed immediately, including prevention of exchanges from participating in governance attacks (as we witnessed on the Steem Blockchain). To prevent governance (or funding) attacks, a 30 day delay has been added on crediting vests towards witness and SPS votes. Further governance changes will need to be developed alongside the community. This delay means that after an account “powers up” or stakes funds, there will be a 30 day delay before those vests can be used towards voting on governance (witnesses) or through voting in the SPS. For all other actions, there is no delay and vests are immediately available. This is an initial way for us to mitigate this risk while continuing to improve the system as a whole, and without deciding on governance changes before returning to collection of wider community input.
## Will all Steem accounts be included in the HIVE airdrop? The goal of Hive is to continue moving towards true decentralization, and therefore the launch airdrop will include all accounts who have showcased these same values and shared goals. The only accounts who will not be included in the initial airdrop are those containing the Steemit Inc ninja-mined stake, and those who actively contributed to (and publicly declared support for) the centralization of the Steem Blockchain. These accounts can still choose to take part in the new chain and their accounts will exist, but they will not be included in the intial airdrop.
## ***Important notes for cryptocurrency exchanges that list STEEM*** #### Do you plan to support the Hive airdrop by taking a snapshot of your customer’s Steem holdings at the time of the airdrop and credit them with a similar amount of Hive (Yes/No)? **YES**) If you DO want to participate in the airdrop, please notify the Hive team that your exchange will distribute the airdrop on a pro-rata basis to your Steem customers (no fixed timeline for distribution is required), and the Hive account that corresponds to your Steem account will receive the airdrop at the time of the launch of Hive. **NO**) If you DO NOT want to participate in the airdrop, please send out a notification to your Steem-holding users to forewarn them that you will not be participating, so that they can temporarily withdraw their Steem from your exchange before the airdrop snapshot date, if they wish to participate in the Hive airdrop. If at all possible, please let us know by **Thursday, March 19** if you will or will not be participating in the airdrop. You can notify us by leaving a message on this post using your official Steem account, or you can contact one of our exchange liaisons: - **Gandalf (located in Europe)** *telegram*: @Gandalf_the_Grey *email*: gandalf@hive.expert - **David Jefferys (located in US)** *telegram*: @djefferys Direct follow-ups will be made, but if we do not receive an affirmative response by days end Thursday, March 19th, we will assume that your exchange doesn’t wish to participate in the airdrop for holding customer balances. # We're looking forward to the launch of Hive! There's a lot to come during this extremely busy week, and this post and account will be updated to reflect new information as it becomes available. ### Thank you for the spirit of community, and for being a part of the buzz. Looking forward to what's ahead for everyone who wants to get involved... #hiveisalive! # https://hive.io/