I wrote about this 3 days ago: https://hive.blog/blog/@beggars/where-did-everyone-go - I've been around since the Steemit days and came over during the fork and I remember those glory days of 2020-2023 when everyone felt excited and optimistic. I'm back building on Hive again, but nothing I've built has gone anywhere and that might be due to the things I'm building. And this comment isn't intended to be self-promotional, but I've built:

• Hive Ships: https://hive-ships.com - which is competitive battleship on the Hive blockchain
• Hive hand: https://hivehand.app/ - competitive blockchain Uno on Hive
• Hive Predict: https://hivepredict.app/ - parimutuel prediction markets on Hive
• Hive Lotto: https://hive-lotto.app - a daily automated lottery on the Hive blockchain
• Hive Scratchit: https://hive-scratch.com - scratch cards on the Hive blockchain

None of these have gone anywhere. Maybe because I've always avoided being promotional here and never had ambitions of buying influence and becoming a whale. I used to work with the Hive Engine guys for a while, working on Tribaldex and so on.

I submitted a PR to the Hive blockchain codebase to try and get SMTs finished: https://github.com/openhive-network/hive/pull/47

I've built a library to make building apps on Hive easier, including the ability to write code-level contracts for dApps: https://github.com/Vheissu/hive-stream

I'm currently working on a dhive library equivalent for the Rust language, so Rust devs can easily build Hive dApps: https://github.com/Vheissu/hive-rs

To say I am trying is an understatement. But I'm just one dev. I've always had a soft spot for Hive and loved the ecosystem and way the chain works, massive amounts of potential. But it's hard to get support right now, even in the form of people caring enough to try something out and give some feedback. Seems like most people are content with publishing AI slop and earning cents in upvotes for it than they are ensuring the long-term survival of the Hive blockchain.

I'm not motivated by money and I would say anyone motivated by money thinking Hive is the golden ticket are delusional, haha. So many other opportunities elsewhere for those people. But if there was better support for builders, Hive would be a lot better place. I'm getting tired of seeing the numerous alternative UI clients for this blockchain all focusing on the content aspect, not so much the utility aspect of this blockchain.

The whole point of the DHF was for people to propose things to be built for Hive, to help grow the user base and also help keep the price stable too. But it ended up being a piggy bank for opportunists, grifters, scammers and people that never cared about Hive in the first place. So, people like me don't bother with proposals because we know they won't get support unless you're friends with whales or have stature.

I guess the question is, what do people want? What dApps do they want to see? Do they want to see more blog posts on the chain? Do they want better liquidity and market action? Do they want more alternative UI clients for Hive? What does it take to get visibility and support in 2026?

It makes me sad when I look at the amount of money wasted on vaporwave projects and endeavours that never went anywhere that had DHF backing. With a fraction of the funding these ENTIRE TEAMS received, I could ship so much more and so much faster. Too many people took advantage of the DHF because it's flawed and I think that maybe did the most damage to Hive more than the spam and whales ever did.