What is Hedera? All You Need to Know About HBAR

BeginnerJan 27, 2023
Hedera is a fully open-source public distributed ledger that utilizes the fast, fair, and secure hashgraph consensus.
What is Hedera? All You Need to Know About HBAR

What Is Hedera?

Hedera is a completely open-source public distributed ledger that uses hashgraph consensus, which is quick, equitable, and secure. Its network services include native tokenization and consensus services for creating decentralized applications, as well as smart contracts built using Solidity.

From the essays on Hedera’s own website and then to the dozens of YouTube videos showcasing its charismatic and intelligent creator, Dr. Leemon Baird, curious newcomers can walk down a long rabbit hole. But what distinguishes Hedera from other blockchains? Technically, Hedera is not a blockchain — it is another form of distributed ledger technology called Hashgraph.

History

Hashgraph creator Leemon Baird and his business partner Mance Harmon formed Hedera, which holds an exclusive license to the patents held by Swirlds, the firm they founded. An international “ruling council” of businesses and organizations owns and runs Hedera.

A relatively new consensus protocol called Hedera Hashgraph Vision Hashgraph seeks to handle transactions more quickly than current networks. On top of hashgraph, Hedera’s consensus method, it layers Proof-of-Stake for consensus weighting, a fee & rewards mechanism, a cryptocurrency, and the two important HCS and HTS services. Hedera wants to create a platform that can handle high-volume use cases like micropayments, data integrity, and tokenization since hashgraph has the capacity to process transactions at a fairly efficient pace. Similar to the EVM, the network also provides a virtual machine that can compile smart contracts created in Solidity. By providing native support for optional KYC and AML checks through its “Verified Identity” method, Hedera aims to be compliant across jurisdictions.

Behind the Network Hedera Hashgraph LLC is a US-based entity that is governed by 39 term-limited global enterprises across multiple industries. These organizations work together to decide Hedera’s near-term governance model while managing the protocol’s consensus nodes. Council membership, token policies, and protocol modifications are all within the control of the governing members. Additionally, they choose the subcommittees that will run the usual corporate departments like legal, finance, and marketing. Governing members do not get profits from the entity in their capacity as members; instead, they receive payments from running nodes in exchange for their contributions to security and governance.

Separate firm Swirlds is an equal-weight governing member and the owner of the hashgraph consensus algorithm’s intellectual property. Hedera Hashgraph has the technology under license from Swirlds. The two parties will employ the corresponding patent rights to make it illegal for anyone to fork the code and produce a rival platform and currency. Although the consensus algorithm is not open source, it is “open review,” which allows anybody to confirm the code contains no backdoors. Additionally, the Apache 2.0 license applies to the platform and services code for Hedera as well as the developer tools. Developers can create “Hedera Improvement Proposals” (HIPs) on GitHub, and the community can vote on them.

Hedera’s Features: Smart Contracts, Services and Consensus

Hedera Consensus Service (HCS)

Hedera Consensus Service (HCS) was developed with the objective of producing decentralized, auditable logs of immutable, timestamped events for web2 and web3 applications. The Hedera network receives messages for consensus, assigns a reliable timestamp, and equitably arranges them. Applications that are now in use employ HCS to trace provenance throughout supply chains, record asset transfers between blockchain networks, tabulate votes in a DAO, keep track of IoT devices, and more.

Smart Contracts

Smart contracts provide self-executing, autonomous logic that enables the development of an entirely new class of applications. We can improve openness and efficiency across industries by placing our faith in code rather than centralized bodies.

  • Auctions: Manage a bidding procedure and exchange all types of assets in a decentralized manner.
  • Bridges: To enable trustless transactions across various blockchains and public ledger networks, smart contracts are a crucial building component.
  • DeFi: Earn income, take out loans, manage derivatives, and other aspects of traditional financial institutions.
  • Oracles: Provide real-world, off-ledger data to smart contracts for usage in gaming, retail, and manufacturing applications.

File Service

The decentralized approach of Hedera Hashgraph allows it to compete in the data storage business. The platform will be the preferred option for developers to store files for their applications because it has such a safe and effective network. Using the FS service, carrying out network transactions is similar to creating (writing) a file. As a result, transactional data can be present on every node, making it possible for users to query (read) that data.

Hashgraph Consensus

A novel, effective method for enabling distributed consensus is the hashgraph consensus algorithm. Fast, equitable, and secure distributed consensus algorithm and data structure is called hashgraph.

A new foundation for distributed consensus is offered by the hashgraph data format and consensus algorithm. An overview of the hashgraph’s operation and some of its characteristics is provided in this introduction. When no single user is trusted by all users, the objective of a distributed consensus method is to enable a community of users to agree on the order in which some of the users originated transactions. In this approach, it functions as a method for building trust when people don’t already have it. Hashgraph accomplishes this in a radically novel manner.

Token Service

Applications can configure, mint, and manage both fungible and non-fungible tokens on Hedera using the native Hedera Token Service. On Hedera, tokens can be transferred at a constant cost of USD 0.0001, paid in HBAR, and they settle with immediate finality.

With key and token configurations that provide flexibility for account KYC verification and freezing, token supply management, transfer, and other functions, developers have fine-grained control over tokens and accounts on Hedera. You can incorporate any kind of token created with Hedera Token Service right into your Solidity smart contract for full layer 1 programmability.

How Does Hedera Work? Fully Decentralized Governance

The Hedera Governing Council, an expert council made up of 39 preeminent international organizations from a variety of industries and regions, is responsible for overseeing Hedera. Every member of the Governing Council has an equal voice in decisions about software updates, network pricing, treasury management, and other issues. Members of the Governing Council have a set tenure and are not compensated by Hedera.


Source: Hedera Governing Council

The Hedera Governing Council is set up to better realize Hedera’s vision for a fully decentralized, wise, stable government that serves the network’s long-term interests. By signing the contract, each governing council member has acquired a portion of Hedera LLC. The public will receive copies of each Governing Council meeting’s minutes no later than thirty days after the majority of members approve them.


Source: Hedera Governing Council

The likelihood of ideological or interpersonal conflicts, which have impacted the governance of other public networks, is significantly reduced by this form of government. Anyone may submit new features, functionality, standards, and other forms of suggestions through Hedera enhancement proposals in the interest of establishing a strong developer-focused community and developer-driven roadmap (HIPs). The Hedera Governing Council evaluates and approves these recommendations, which are then put into action by a decentralized team of core project engineers. Hedera is scalable and well-suited to become the first public network to experience widespread adoption due to its technology and governance.

Hedera NFTs

The Hedera NFTs can be bought and sold on Hedera NFT Marketplaces, such as HashAxis, ZuseMarket, and TurtleMoon.


Source: HashAxis

Hedera Use Cases

  • Payments: Using HBAR, stablecoins, or your own token, you may enable peer-to-peer payments that are quick, safe, and affordable.

  • Content Authenticity: Manage and make the veracity of important documents and other media publicly verified.

  • CBDC: Create digital currencies issued by central banks (CBDCs) for domestic or international remittance.

  • Audit Log: Create an inexpensive publicly auditable data record that includes payment events, IoT sensor data, and other data.

  • Decentralized Finance: With Solidity-based smart contracts, construct financial markets, lending protocols, oracles, and more without spending money on intermediaries.

  • NFTs: Create NFT markets where tokens representing actual assets, digital assets, and more are minted and distributed.

  • Permissioned Blockchain: Publicly verify private transactions on permissioned blockchains like Hyperledger Fabric or Corda.

  • Interoperability: Create a bridge that connects public and private networks that is interoperable. Value exchange, data, and identity.

What Is the HBAR token?

HBAR is the native, energy-efficient token that powers Hedera. By using proof-of-stake to deter attacks, Hbars is used to pay application transaction fees and secure the network. Hedera goes beyond blockchain for developers to usher in the next era of quick, equitable, and secure applications, regardless matter whether you are a startup or company, a creator or consumer.

When compared to the main tokens from the first and second generations, Bitcoin and Ethereum, HBAR can process more transactions at a faster time, around 10,000 TPS with a confirmation time of 3-5 seconds. It’s also energy-efficient, with one of the lowest energy consumption rates.


Source: HBAR | Hedera

Is Hedera (HBAR) a Good Investment?

While some analysts think it is a reasonable investment, others think its value could fall to zero. It is always worth remembering that the crypto market is highly volatile, and the price of all tokens and coins can fluctuate in both directions.

Hedera has some advantages compared to its pairs, especially given its unique consensus. If the company can grow and nurture the community, the project is leveled up to embrace a broader adoption. Investors are always advised to do their own research before investing in tokens.

How to Own HBAR?

You can own HBAR via a crypto centralized exchange, so you can begin by creating a Gate.io account. Once the account is verified and funded, find out the steps to buy HBAR. In a nutshell, you can do this via flash swap, trading the spot market or even using leverage.

News on Hedera (HBAR)

TRM Labs, the pioneer in blockchain intelligence solutions, has today announced the launch of Chainabuse, a new community-powered scam reporting platform that enables anyone in the crypto economy to alert others to scams, hacks, and other fraudulent activity as they come across it. Other key participants in the launch include Circle, Solana Foundation, The Aave Companies, Hedera, Binance.US, and Civic. The free tool enables participants in the crypto ecosystem to actively contribute to making it a safer place to operate, including consumers of cryptocurrency, victims of financial crime, and crypto businesses.

Despite recent turbulence, the cryptocurrency market has expanded significantly over the past few years, reaching a peak market valuation of $3 trillion in 2021. But as popularity has grown, so too have the number of cyberattacks and phishing schemes that target cryptocurrency users. On social media platforms like Twitter or Discord, scam alerts are frequently posted, but it can be challenging to verify, compile, or follow these posts over time.

The first platform of its kind, Chainabuse is a multi-chain reporting tool that enables cryptocurrency users to report illegal activities to a public forum where other users can upvote, downvote, or post comments to provide more details. Anyone can utilize a searchable database to proactively examine locations or projects before working with them. Reports on the same addresses or entities are combined and kept in it.


Source: Hedera News

Useful References

For the latest updates about Hedera, you can visit:

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Author: Gabriel
Translator: cedar
Reviewer(s): Hugo、Edward、Ashely、Joyce
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