Intro
I've been mostly accumulating and trading cryptocurrencies for the entire time I've been an enthusiast. Recently, I've starting to research ways I can start to integrate crypto into my daily life. One such way is getting a Metal Visa Card from Crypto.com, which allows you to make purchases using a traditional Visa card. It will deduct those purchases from your crypto holdings. While this card is a great bridge between crypto and the traditional finance world, it's not quite as exciting as a transaction occurring natively in crypto. I've really been looking for ways to start to engage with the real world, so I thought why not try to commission some artwork. Digital artwork is too easy. I wanted some thing I can touch. I wanted something I can frame and put on the wall.
Building Relationships On Hive
I've been following @armandosodano on Hive and have enjoyed his work for quite some time now. I have also provided a decent amount of support and engagement to his posts. When you start engaging with people on Hive, you can get a real sense of whether they are trustworthy or whether they value their reputation. Social blockchains like Hive are such that it makes very little sense to risk a reputation you have built over the course of years, to simply take advantage of someone for a short term gain. This creates all sorts of opportunities for building trust between individuals on other sides of the globe.
While I'd love to go to Italy, it's not really in the cards right now. At the same time, I was really excited about the prospect of him interpreting a photo I had taken many years prior. This was during my first trip to visit my extended family in England, so it's very nostalgic for me.
Why Not Hive?
I decided to attempt to facilitate this commerce using Hive. It's possible that we could have accomplished this transaction using Visa or Mastercard, but why not try it with something we both value? This conclusion led me to post a request for proposal (RFP) on Hive in which I tagged Armando expressing my interest in commissioning him to paint his interpretation of my photo. After this we were able to connect on Discord to discuss some of the more confidential details.
Building Reputation and Trust
Hive being a social blockchain, affords the opportunity for its users to build trust with one another and to build reputation. While the blockchain itself is trustless, the reputation one builds by being an active member builds trust and can enable commerce that extends outside of the blockchain itself. By the time I had requested this commission from Armando, we had already built up sufficient trust and reputation between each other that he offered to create the work, give me a substantial discount, and mail it to me with no payment up front! How could commerce like this exist anywhere else but a social-blockchain? Armando insisted that I did not need to pay him until the work arrived, and I obliged.
Watching The Process Unfold
This arrangement provided me the opportunity to not only purchase artwork, but to also experience the process of its creation through a blog post by Armando. After seeing the finished product, all I had to do was wait for it to be shipped to me from Italy to the west coast of the United States.
The Arrival
About two weeks later, my prize had arrive, and had been packaged very well for the long journey.
| Outer Packaging | Inner Protection |
|---|---|
 |  |
The protective cardboard was removed to reveal the lovely painting below. It was signed on both the front and the back.
 |  |
Payment
After my delight of seeing the painting, I sent Armando the agreed upon amount including a small tip.
Real World Commerce Can Be Facilitated By Hive
Hive has the potential to be much more than a reward mechanism for blog posts. It is also an excellent means by which relationships can be built and exist outside of a centralized platform. Cryptocurrencies such as Hive can be used to purchase physical goods and services, as well as digital ones. It can do so in way that encompasses both trust-less and trust-based interaction. It will be exciting to see if this experiment continues to evolve into a truly borderless economic system, where people from different countries and continents can come together and barter for those same goods and services. It's an exciting time to be alive. Though there's nothing groundbreaking on a macro scale about purchasing a piece of artwork using crypto, it's certainly groundbreaking for me.
Would You Engage In Commerce Via HIVE?
What about you? Have you considered purchasing art from one of your favorite artists on HIVE? What about other types of products or services? Have you seen someone creating a great product, and wondered if it was possible to purchase it from them? I invite you to give it a try, especially whales on the platform like @blocktrades, @theycallmedan, @azircon, @encrypt3dbr0k3r, @darthknight, @pharesim, @themarkymark, @gtg, etc.
Conclusion
Overall this was a great experience. I feel the public nature of transactions such as these help to increase one's reputation as an honest broker. I think people on hive should go out of their way to get an idea of the individual talents of those here they engage with, and attempt to leverage that talent in a value-for-value exchange. Whether that is seeking SEO help from somebody like @pitboy, an animated gif or logo from someone like @thepeakstudio, or post formatting tips from someone like @ybanezkim26 or @gabrielatravels. There is so much intellectual and human capital already here, we should do our best to leverage it! Thanks for reading. If you have any comments or suggestions, I encourage you to share them in the comments below.
Special thanks to @armandosodano for the great experience purchasing his art. I'd also like to thank @pitboy for his support and input on increasing the quality of my posts. Both have been set as beneficiaries of this post.
Hi Josh, I am truly honored and happy to know that there is also a painting of mine in Oregon. I'm glad you enjoyed it and I hope that many other artists can sell their works on Hive and especially paid with Hive.
Saluti!
I think this is a really wonderful example of something we need more of: A genuine everyday use-case for Hive!
Aside from this being a really cool story @joshman, and it's a nice painting, there's something more here. We're part of this community, which is part of a greater system of cryptoCURRENCIES. And what are "currencies?" Stores of value that allow us to conduct peer-to-peer transactions across borders, without banks or foreign exchanges. And that's really awesome!
I hope we see more things like this, and I hope someone actually creates a Hive-based marketplace where we can have buyers and sellers come together and transact entirely in Hive and never have to go to fiat currencies!
=^..^=
Posted Using LeoFinance Beta
Thanks for visiting. I agree, the social layer of this blockchain enables trust between parties.
Very nice to see how this ended up @joshman, as I recall reading your RFP and liked the idea. Looks like @armandosodano did a very nice job of delivering!
Yes, I have done this. Twice. Very early on, in my "journey" through this remarkable "virtual world," with someone in Japan - @skyleap. Then more recently with someone in Malaysia - @zord189. Both were very "mutually beneficial" transactions. And both are still active on our Hive blockchain. Is there a link between the success of their "business proposition" and their continued presence "in here"?
I would imagine so!
Hopefully, your post will encourage many others to give this idea a try. Just one of the many ways we can all work together to encourage each other.
Glad to see you've enjoyed a similar experience!
If we can ever get back on our feet again someday and open a cafe somewhere in the world, we will gladly accept HIVE as a payment option. I used to accept Bitcoin in Cambodian at our old cafe, and would usually get a customer or two every week that would opt for a Bitcoin payment instead of fiat.
Way to go using HIVE for something like this! !BEER
Thanks brother. You'll get there again!
This was a beautiful story and I’m really glad that I took the time to read it... and I will add... the art you commissioned from your photo in England was wonderfully done by @armandosodano! You must really be enjoying having it on your wall!
You know... For me this is a reminder that communities move at the speed of trust and I think that’s what’s so beautiful about this post... is that it’s a sign of the health, positivity, and optimism here on the Hive Blockchain.
Thank you for inspiring us all to continue investing in this community of people! 👏
Thanks for dropping by! I still need to frame it.
It's amazing that trust-based communities can form on a trust-less blockchain!
It really is isn't it!
I think that's the silver lining in all the distrust that's making headlines these days! We have something here... and it's worth continuing with.
Thanks for commenting back! :)
Well done both of you! I liked the idea of buying and selling on the blockchain. Also you can’t hide the price ;) as things are transparent here! Lol!
I might want to let a few artists know so that they can do similar things if interested!
@hiddenblade @artistparthoroy
Thanks, I think that hive has some untapped potential as a barter marketplace of sorts.
I feel honoured to see my name tagged along with some great authors, thank you so much! :D
No doubt hive and its users have a great potential to create something great and we should really our best to make things great :)
That's an amazing artwork and I'm sure it's worth any penny!
Here here!
Estuve leyendo todo el contexto y me pareció interesante toda esta historia. Realmente te felicito esto es un ejemplo para nosotros, por lo menos en mi caso, que a penas estoy creciendo en este mundo de las criptomonedas y hive me hace sentir confiada de que puedo lograr muchas cosas siempre y cuando siga esforzándome a diario para lograrlo. Te envío un saludo con cariño desde Venezuela, saludos y respeto para @armandosodano por presentarnos una obra maravillosa. Ahora la tienes, es un gran premio bien logrado. 🤗🤗🤗. Gracias por compartir esto.
I've been reading the whole context and found this whole story interesting. I really congratulate you, this is an example for us, at least in my case, that I am barely growing in this world of cryptocurrencies and hive makes me feel confident that I can achieve many things as long as I continue to strive daily to achieve it. I send you a warm greeting from Venezuela, greetings and respect for @armandosodano for presenting us with a wonderful work. Now you have it, it is a great prize well achieved. 🤗🤗🤗. Thank you for sharing this.
You're welcome. Thanks for reading.
That's so awesome, I congratulate you for doing this. There are a lot of artists here who would love to sell their art and for sure receiving crypto would be fine with them. A wonderful initiative, hopefully it will motivate others to try it out too. Especially that on Hive you can directly talk with the artist himself
!ENGAGE 20
I agree. I hope we see more of it in this ecosystem.
Me too
That's a really nice painting @joshman and @armandosodano! That's a pretty neat story to have a bought a personalized painting from one of your pictures directly here on hive, proof that it has a lot more use case than just blogging/trading/holding. Hopefully artist sales becomes a trend around here in the future, it would be a nice positive use for the platform along with everything it already offers.
It would be nice to see more people leveraging other community members as a resource for things besides blogging.
What a time to be alive! To see real-world goods and services to be purchased using Hive is simply exhilarating.
Front page news: Guy sends 450 tokens to another guy, and gets a handmade postcard in the mail. News at 11.
What did I do to deserve this kind of sarcasm? 😂
Am I not allowed to feel elated to see such kind of use case of Hive? I know it's not novel, but what are we supposed to react? Should I ignore my friend from the other side of the world who's celebrating his art purchase? Should I say "meh" because it's not news-worthy?
What did the world do to you that you would ruin other's happiness in little things?
Don't worry about this guy. He's a troll from way back. I actually used to support and engage with him a lot in the past. At some point I became part of the 'deep state' of platform or something and are responsible for his lack of success. I think he has weed-induced paranoia. Occasionally he shows up to try rain on my parade. He's not welcome on my blog, but he likes to confirm his paranoia.
(this is for anyone who would question why I would downvote a critical commenter. I have no issue with critiques, this is actually quite personal)
Drutter and his friends share photos of girls smoking without their consent.
https://hive.blog/cannabis/@girlsofgreen/blazin-a-big-7mm-bong-with-the-vixen-today
This has been a pleasant conversation I have had with them in the past. To make it clear what kind of character he is.
I see. I have not been engaging much lately because I have some personal issues that I need to resolve. I was really flattered that you mentioned me in your post and then I was shocked to receive that kind of reply. I have nothing against being critical, but I just felt the world is already full of negative things. We also don't know what people are going through so it's never a loss to be kind.
Okay. I'll just ignore him from now on. 😄
You and me both buddy. Hang in there!
You appear to have misunderstood and/or made silly assumptions :)
I have sold art here directly on peakd.com, on NFT Showroom which is built on Hive, and I am in the process of setting up a bookstore of sorts for my work that accepts Hive, so I am definitely open to more of this!
That's awesome! Thanks for dropping by!
This is one of the reasons I'm loving the blockchain.
Since I started reading about the blockchain and distributed ledgers the word trust has been emphasized in many books.
You didn't have to go through some middleman agency and your transaction only took place in a few seconds with very little or no cost.
The blockchain technology is best next big thingI have ever heard in a while
By the way, the painting looks exquisite
Thanks, I agree with your sentiments. The future looks promising indeed.
Ahhh could have used the Leo interface or tag as well, real life use case for hive can't have gone any better. Astonishing purchase my friend.
Thanks, I'm glad you think so.
This is an interesting case of use 😁 would be interesting to see more transaction as such happening through the blockchain.
I agree, thanks for stopping by!
As though the meet, commission, finish wasn't enough.. your invitation at the end--bravo, sir. @armondosodano, beautiful piece.
Thanks, much appreciated!
Enjoyed reading this and it just gets the mind buzzing with the possibilities for exchanging hive for services. This was a very uplifting and positive post in these pretty crap times. I think as hive grows and as the relationships also develop within it with the trust that goes with that ,as you mentioned, this will happen more. Best post I've read in a while on a lot of levels
Thanks for your kind words, I'm glad it gave you additional ideas on how to engage with the community.
I really liked what you did and when you take a step back and think about it there's so much scope for similar transactions as relationships grow and people realise its possible
This post is the perfect post to try and get my artist friend(s)
-https://instagram.com/happylittlelandscapes?igshid=1tuz0ylg2kgcf
and my art curator friend to check out other venues to sell their art
Nice, I hope they go for it!
This is pretty great! Buying real objects (well, I've already bought blockchain stuff with hive) with hive still feel quite unreal!
Agreed, I've bought virtual stuff before, but this is the first time I've bought real goods from a fellow hive member.
The trust was mutual between the two parties. That made the transaction feels like family and also professional. If everyone can have such trust and believe in each others capacity, things would be much better in the world.
There's lots of talk regarding crypto not requiring trust, but trusting others is an important part of the human condition.
really interesting - and inspiring story ... gets out paints....
Commence painting!
https://hive.blog/onchainart/@jilliangodsil/how-i-became-a-lockdown-crypto-artist
Ahh look at that!
Lookie der!
What an amazing and intense artwork, @johsman!
It's really beautiful.
Thanks, I agree!
Ah, this is great to see and hear about. Great job!
Much appreciated!
Fantastic idea and I’m glad you are happy with the result
Thanks!
Amazing, congrats on owning this great piece☺️
Thanks!
Well then i should wotk on my digital art then !!
Gittr done!
This is absolutely wonderful. Great to see this happening.
Thanks!
Great example of what "can be" here on our Hive blockchain @joshman. There is always a need for any successful enterprise to continuously work on improving its "value proposition" to its "customers."
I hope your post is a great encouragement to many to seriously consider this approach to doing just that! 👍
@roleerob
Posted Using LeoFinance
!BEER
Thanks!
Cool!!
!discovery 30
Thanks!
such a great post!
Thanks!
Welcome
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ENGAGEtokens.great piece!
Very cool 🍺👀👌👌👌☺ I hold this idea strong and I try also soon to get.
People have been buying and selling things online since the internet began. And people have been sending cryptos to other people since cryptos began. And people have been shipping art in the mail since the mail began. You're high on your own fumes again/still, josh.
Want to do something nobody has done before? Use cryptos to buy food at the local grocery store, while maintaining privacy and decentralization. I double dog dare you to try.
thanks for dropping by...
You're not up to the challenge and you can't handle the criticism, as usual. Head up your ass so far all you can do is hide everything and everyone you disagree with.
What challenge? I'm here to to be positive. You're the bitter one blaming everyone else for your lack of success. Keep commenting on my blogs, keep getting downvotes. Crawl back into your hole.
The challenge is to use cryptos privately and decentralized, remember? I dare you. Paying for something online with crypto isn't novel. Can't handle the truth, so you lash out. You're a classic profiteer, bully, and asshole, that's just the truth. Downvote as stupidly as you can, doesn't change anything.
You just can't help yourself.
See, you lack substance. You provide nothing, and can't respond to legitimate criticism, or even a challenge to do something new and useful. You know this, and trying to tear me down is your only recourse. It's super weak.
Now, use crypto privately, if you're able.