What Is Hedera (HBAR)?

Hedera is a public network and governing body functioning using hashgraph technology, with the aim to address the different requirements of mainstream markets. The term hashgraph signifies a consensus mechanism that provides a secure, fair, and fast data structure efficiently and innovatively. According to the whitepaper of the asset, the mission of the network is to develop a secure and trusted online world that can allow users to:

• Play, work, trade, and socially engage with others in the online world

• Maintain privacy and safety when participating in digital communities

• Facilitate interaction with other participants in the online world

• Explore the various digital technologies available in the online world    

Besides these facilities, Hedera also functions as a platform for businesses and users, facilitating the development of different applications on decentralized networks. In order to facilitate this development, the Hedera platform functions using:

• Smart Contract 2.0: Smart contract 2.0 is EVM (Ethereum virtual machine) compatible and provide users with faster alternatives than what blockchains have to offer. The EVM is a software platform of the Ethereum network that facilitates the development of DApps. Besides these, the Smart Contract 2.0 also provides a predictable gas fee and carbon-negative solution for app development. This essentially means that using smart contract 2.0, Hedera can process 15 million gas per second. This is the same amount of gas that Ethereum aims to achieve in an entire block.

• Third-Generation Public Ledger: A public ledger system that functions using a proof-of-stake (PoS) mechanism powered by gossip protocol and hashgraph technology. The gossip protocol signifies a communication framework within a peer-to-peer network to ensure information is shared with all the participants within the network.

This reflects a platform that provides security, speed, low fees, and energy-efficient solutions for users and businesses to carry out their operations. Further, to ensure these overall operations can be supported within the network, Hedera launched its cryptocurrency, the HBAR coin.

According to the website of the asset, HBAR is an energy-efficient native coin of the Hedera network and serves two specific functions within the network:

• Network Fuel: HBAR coins are used for making payments for different services on the network, which include payments for logging data, managing NFTs and other tokens, and transferring coins within the network. These fees that are collected as payments are further used for compensating network nodes for storage, computation, and bandwidth.

• Network Protection: HBAR coins are used for staking on the network node to weigh the vote on transactions so that malicious participants cannot affect the consensus mechanism. This process, in turn, protects the network from cyber attacks, as bad actors have to stake or own one-third of the total supply of the coin to influence the consensus mechanism of the network.

These functions of the coin ensure a smooth operational structure within the Hedera network while facilitating participants to use the network for their specific requirements.  

History of Hedera (HBAR)

The Hedera organization was founded by Dr. Leemon Baird (CTO and cofounder) and Mance Harmon (CEO and cofounder) on March 13, 2018. The organization launched the Hedera network on August 14, 2018. Further, the organization released its latest whitepaper on August 15, 2020, while the latest HBAR economic whitepaper of the organization was released on June 3, 2020. The cryptocurrency of the Hedera network has a maximum total supply of 50,000,000,000 HBAR. 

How Are HBAR Coins Created?

HBAR coins are created by a process called minting during the launch of the Hedera network so that no additional energy is required to create the coins.