Ramazan Eles 
Hedera (HBAR) is a blockchain platform aiming to stand out with its speed, security, and unique governance structure. Recent price dips have caused some to question Hedera’s future, but is a recovery on the horizon?
This Hedera (HBAR) crypto review by Coin Engineer will explore Hedera’s features, technology, and advantages to help you decide if HBAR is a worthwhile investment. The review covers Hedera’s history, goals, functionality, future outlook, and price predictions.
What is Hedera (HBAR)?
Hedera (HBAR) is the native cryptocurrency of the Hedera Hashgraph network. Hedera Hashgraph is a distributed ledger technology (DLT) platform designed for superior performance, security, and governance compared to traditional blockchains.
Unlike blockchains that rely on linear chains of blocks, Hedera Hashgraph uses a gossip-based consensus protocol called Hashgraph. Developed by Dr. Leemon Baird in 2016, Hashgraph allows Hedera to process thousands of transactions per second with minimal fees. This makes Hedera suitable for applications requiring high throughput and low latency.
Hedera also features a unique governance model. A governing council comprised of major international corporations and organizations makes crucial decisions regarding the network’s development and direction.
Additionally, Hedera offers smart contract support and the ability to create custom tokens. Its speed and security make it ideal for building various decentralized applications (dApps), from payment systems to digital marketplaces and social platforms.
Hedera’s History
Hedera is a revolutionary project that challenges traditional approaches to decentralized systems. Here’s a look at some key milestones in Hedera’s history:
2012-2015: Dr. Leemon Baird, Hedera’s founder and Chief Scientist, begins work on Hashgraph consensus, an alternative to blockchains.
August 2015: Dr. Baird publishes a whitepaper detailing Hashgraph consensus.
2016: Dr. Baird and Mance Harmon found Swirlds, a company focused on developing and commercializing Hashgraph technology.
March 2018: Hedera Hashgraph launches as a public network, offering a fast, secure, and decentralized platform built on Hashgraph.
August 2018: Hedera raises over $120 million through an ICO to fund network development.
September 2019: Hedera initiates Open Access, allowing public use of the network for building dApps.
2020-2021: Hedera establishes strategic partnerships and attracts major companies to its governing council.
2023: A new roadmap is launched to address scalability and introduce community-run nodes.
Why Was Hedera Created?
The Hedera project tackles the limitations of traditional blockchains, particularly regarding performance, security, and governance. It aims to provide a superior DLT platform for decentralized applications.
One significant challenge with traditional blockchains is their inability to handle high transaction volumes. This limits their scalability and adoption for real-world applications. Hedera’s Hashgraph consensus protocol overcomes this limitation by enabling significantly faster transaction speeds.
Security is another key focus for Hedera. Its consensus mechanism offers resilience against malicious attacks and node failures. In terms of governance, Hedera addresses the lack of transparency and balanced decision-making in traditional blockchains by establishing a governing council. This council, composed of major international corporations, oversees and guides the network’s development, promoting balanced governance and distributed decision-making power.
How Does Hedera Work?
Understanding Hedera requires examining its protocol, consensus mechanism, security, and governance. Here are the key elements:
Hashgraph Protocol: Hedera is built on the Hashgraph protocol, a consensus algorithm that uses a directed acyclic graph (DAG) to record transaction history. This approach enables faster confirmations and high transaction throughput.
Consensus: The Hashgraph protocol utilizes a “gossip about gossip” consensus mechanism. Nodes randomly share transaction information and arrival order with other nodes. By combining this data with a virtual voting algorithm, Hedera achieves fast and secure consensus on the order of transactions.
Security: Hedera offers a high level of security due to its consensus protocol’s resistance to Sybil attacks, node failures, and malicious tampering. The network is designed to withstand common attacks like double-spending and DDoS attacks. Additionally, Hedera is ABFT-compliant, signifying the highest level of security for a decentralized consensus system.
Governance: A council of major international corporations and organizations governs Hedera. This council makes critical choices regarding network development and direction, ensuring balanced and transparent governance. Council members are also responsible for overseeing and maintaining network nodes.
Additional Features
In this section of the TOK Hedera crypto review, we will explore the additional features that help to support building this decentralized application (dApps):
Smart contracts: Enables smart contracts that allow developers to create automated, self-executing applications on the platform.
Custom tokens: Ability to launch custom tokens on the Hedera network, facilitating decentralized finance (DeFi) projects and digital economies.
File service: Decentralized file storage service for securely and transparently storing and sharing data.
NFTs: Hedera also incorporates non-fungible tokens (NFTs) – a dynamic, promising ecosystem for artists, content creators, and collectors to leverage Hashgraph’s speed and security. Hedera NFTs can represent various unique digital assets like artwork, collectibles, virtual goods, etc.
Staking: Hedera staking lets you earn awards without doing anything for helping to protect the Hedera network. When you connect HashPack Wallet to your Ledger hardware wallet, giving away the HBAR you want to stake is easy and safe.