![image.png](https://images.hive.blog/DQmd5EK1sJEhrb7HL1VE7KLq3ruegnBGS1PVdSSwK8ErBwd/image.png)

**Do you remember how you found your way to Hive?**

Was it your first interaction with crypto?
If not, what was?

Why are you here today?

# How did I get to Hive?

I joined Steem July 1st, 2017 (block 13,303,288), as far as I can remember it was a mention from another Ethereum miner in the Space Station discord.  I'm not 100% sure about this, but that my best guess on how I found myself on Steem.

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It wasn't until July 22nd, 2017, about 3 weeks later that I made my first broadcast on the blockchain.  It was a follow of @quickfingerluc, someone who has long since left.  He used to post about crypto and TA techniques.  

https://i.imgur.com/eYS3Ubb.png

By July 22nd, I was more comfortable with the ecosystem after lurking for 3 weeks reading and exploring and I started to comment regularly.  That same day I made my [first post](https://peakd.com/@themarkymark/how-to-boost-your-reading-speed) about speed reading.  I honestly had no clue what I was going to do here, much less write about.  I have written in the past about productivity and efficiency but I was never a big fan of blogging.

I gave myself a challenge, I would write every day for a year and see where things go.  At the time I was making less than 5 cents a post and it felt like no one reading anything I wrote.  I kept at it regardless and even after the first year I continued to post almost every day.

I figured out pretty quickly I was going to put a lot of time and effort into this, so I setup a witness on August 13th, 2017.  It took 23 days before I had enough witness votes to produce my first block on September 5th, 2017.  For a while it was pretty slow going and I remained outside of the top 50 for quite a while, I remember sitting at around 63 for what seemed like forever.

**Fast forward 1,379 days, I am still here every day.  Why?**

I'm not going to lie and say the money doesn't matter, but I really love the challenges here.  I also love how easy it is to develop and experiment on Hive.  Fast and free transactions really allows for a lot of cool things that can't be done anywhere else.  I always joke about Ethereum being the place where projects go to die.  While I do use Ethereum a lot I do feel the high and unpredictable transaction fees kills most projects and innovation, but there is no question Ethereum is where you can make a killing.

One thing I really think Hive has an advantage over any other blockchain project is the **community is baked in**.   This is something that made silly projects like Drug Wars so fun.  Just like Cheers, everyone knows your name and there is a certain magic to that.  Much of what keeps me here every day is all my experiences (good and bad) from the days before.  I also feel Hive is a better platform for most crypto projects than most, especially if we can get native smart contracts.

**Why are you here?**

Create a new post with your story and use the tag #whyamihere

Posted Using [LeoFinance <sup>Beta</sup>](https://leofinance.io/@themarkymark/how-did-you-get-here-and-why-are-you-still-here)