Hive describes itself as a decentralized blockchain and ecosystem that is both creative and forward-thinking. Hive claims to focus on scaling and wide acceptance of the currency and platforms. Hive is a fork of the Steem blockchain that is entirely independent and decentralized.

Hive intends to become one of the leading blockchain technologies used by people worldwide. The company's goal as a community-driven fork is to maintain the strong community ideals that have already been created while also relieving the ecosystem of Steemit Inc.'s disproportionate influence.

The whitepaper mentions that Hive is built on the Delegated Proof of Stake protocol (DPoS). Hive claims to be the world's first decentralized proof-of-stake blockchain that solves the concerns of broad acceptance and variety of use without relying on central authority.

Hive realized that transaction fees are one of the most challenging issues to overcome in blockchain development and flexibility. Hive claims to employ an innovative stake-based Resource Credit method to provide a zero charges framework, rather than necessitating potentially costly and unpleasant transaction fees. In addition, Hive seeks to improve the accessibility of blockchain technology and content creation to remove barriers to widespread adoption. The Hive block utilizes the Proof-of-Brain (PoB) concept to distribute a piece of the inflation to content providers and users. In the Hive ecosystem, many DApps, APIs, and front-ends contribute to the broad and uncomplicated accessibility of data, transactions, and records. Therefore, this ensures that the Hive ecosystem's existing diversity and utility are pleasing to content producers, users, traders, and builders.

The Hive blockchain consists of two cryptocurrencies named HIVE and Hive Backed Dollars (HBD). The native token of the Hive ecosystem and blockchain is "HIVE". HIVE is accessible in a liquid form (just named HIVE) as well as a staked form (called Hive Power). The Hive ecosystem's liquid currency is HIVE. HIVE coin can be traded and staked.

The staked form of HIVE, Hive Power (HP), is vested via a procedure known as a "power-up." Hive Power can be entirely or partially unstaked at any time after the coin has been powered up, in a procedure known as "power down." Over the course of thirteen weeks, Staked HIVE returns to its liquid state (i.e. HIVE) in equal volumes, with a segment delivered every seven days. The Hive published its whitepaper on September 28, 2020. The total supply of HIVE is 396,399,305 coins.