What Is Hedera Hashgraph? HBAR Review 2022

Is it possible to launch a fast and secure cryptocurrency without a blockchain? It is, and Hedera Hashgraph is a perfect example — it leverages the distributed ledger technology but with its unique decentralized acyclic graph or DAG. The innovation has been proven robust and attracted giants like Boeing, Google, IDM, and LG who now use Hedera’s services. But what is the reason for such a high adoption level?

What Is Hedera Hashgraph (HBAR)?

Hedera is a USA-based company that is governed by dozens of organizations worldwide. Its two co-founders are known for founding Swirlds — a software business that creates dApps and other decentralized solutions. After a round of fundraising in 2017, Hedera was launched.

The platform’s code is not open source, but it’s Open Review — developers can test it, review, and even compile it, but cannot use it for their own purposes (e.g. launching a fork).

At the heart of Hedera lies hashgraph — a unique technology that is not a blockchain but is still decentralized, efficient, secure, and resistant to attacks. The team calls hashgraph the 3rd generation of public ledgers that provide fast and cheap transactions. The network consumes very little computational energy and thus bears a negligible environmental risk.

The Team of Hedera Hashgraph

The co-founders of Hedera are Dr. Leemon Baird and Mance Harmon. We’ve already mentioned Swirlds — the company that created hashgraph and keeps its patents. Dr. Bairds is the lead researcher in the company whose studies were the basis for creating the hashgraph in 2016. Mance Harmon is Hedera’s CEO; there are 11 more members in the leadership team who all boast great experience in technology, finance, and governance.

What Is the Hedera Hashgraph Roadmap?

Hedera has published the official roadmap on the project’s website. Main developments in Q4 2021 were adding extra scalability for issuing NFTs and React Native SDK launch.

Here are the team’s plans for Q1 2022:

• The opportunity to schedule HBAR transactions for the future (when all the required signatures are submitted).
• Hyperledger Besu EVM protocol implementation for improved smart contract scalability.
• The increase of network’s throughput and performance.
• Hashgraph automation for reduced nodes’ downtime.
• Improved developer portal.

In Q2 2022, Hedera is planning to work on the following:

• Introduction of Hedera Improvement Proposals (HIPs) for better governance.
• Integration of smart contracts with exchanges, wallets, and custodial services.
• Better decentralization with community-operated Hedera nodes.
• Staking rewards launch.

Hedera Hashgraph (HBAR) Technology

As already mentioned, Hedera is not a blockchain, but a Directed Acyclic Graph or DAG. It doesn’t have a single chain of nodes — rather, there is timestamped data and nodes that randomly interact with the neighboring ones.

Data is shared in the process of gossiping — that happens in real-time, so nodes learn about transactions faster than all nodes in a blockchain. In Hedera, there is no block time: transaction time is limited by the speed of gossiping and is around 3–5 seconds on average.

Fairness and security of the network are ensured the way that no single node is given an unfair privilege regarding consensus. Each node gossips with the other ones and shares data about previous transactions — this is how nodes achieve consensus on one common version of the truth.

HBAR is a Proof of Stake cryptocurrency based on the Asynchronous Byzantine Fault Tolerant consensus algorithm. It can process 10,000 transactions per second, and the fees are as low as $0.0001.

Even given that Hedera is not a blockchain, it’s compatible with smart contracts, so devs can launch dApps the same way as on Ethereum. Atomic swaps are possible as long as the issuance of new tokens and NFTs. Another Hedera use case is decentralized file storage.

The network’s native token HBAR has a total supply of 50 billion coins. Now, there are 19.6 million of them in circulation, and this number can be increased if Hedera management decides so.

Is It Possible to Mine Hedera Hashgraph?

HBAR cannot be mined — the network runs on the Proof of Stake consensus mechanism. Hedera staking will be introduced in 2022. Proxy Staking model will be implemented, which means the bigger the stake, the higher the rewards. Those who don’t run a node will be able to organize in pools. A perk of proxy staking is that you don’t have to freeze your coins — sending and receiving them is possible as if you aren’t staking.

Validator nodes in Hedera don’t receive rewards. Instead, they are incentivized with transaction fees: 90% of them go to validators, and the remaining 10% go to Hedera and Swirlds.

Hedera Hashgraph (HBAR) Price Prediction 2022

In 2021, Hedera started to unleash its full potential and proved it can be a good long-term investment. HBAR ROI as of February 2022 is 89%. The coin reached its all-time high of $0.57 in September 2022, and now it costs $0.23.

PricePrediction.net expects that the HBAR price will fluctuate between $0.48 and $0.59 during 2022. The average price is expected to be around $0.71 in 2023 and $1.53 in 2025.

Forecasts from Digitalcoin are more moderate — the platform gives HBAR $0.28 by the end of 2022, $0.35 by 2023, and $0.49 by 2025.

Best Hedera Hashgraph (HBAR) Wallets

NOW Wallet is a perfect place to store your HBAR — this mobile wallet combines a user-friendly interface with ultimate security. Here, you can store Hedera Hashraph with hundreds of other assets, including NFTs. In NOW Wallet, you can swap your coins at competitive rates without any hidden fees. The wallet doesn’t store private data, and no one but you can access your private keys.

HBAR can also be stored in cold wallets such as Ledger and Trezor and in hot multi-asset wallets like Atomic, Coinomi, Guarda, and others.

Hedera Hashgraph (HBAR) Crypto Exchanges

There are quite many ways to buy HBAR, but if you need speed and security, choose ChangeNOW. Here, you can buy Hedera with 350+ cryptocurrencies without registration. We partner with multiple crypto exchanges which allows us to offer you the best prices. All fees are already included in the estimated rate that you can see while setting your exchange. If you want to secure yourself from price fluctuations during the swap, choose Fixed Rate.

Bottom Line

Hedera boasts a unique hashgraph technology that makes the platform attractive for some of the top digital companies. The main feature of this solution is that it’s not a blockchain, but a network of nodes sharing information through gossiping. This makes Hedera scalable, fast, and cheap to use — an average HBAR transaction costs less than a cent. Hedera code is reviewed and tested. A robust roadmap (introduction of staking, better decentralization, etc.) and a top-level team make experts believe that the future of HBAR is bright. If Hedera Hashgraph looks like a good investment to you, you are welcome to buy some coins on ChangeNOW.