What is Hedera (HBAR) crypto? Hedera is a public, open-source, proof-of-stake distributed ledger that uses the hashgraph consensus algorithm instead of blocks and chains. Its native token, HBAR, pays for network services and can be staked to nodes without transferring custody.
Core technology and architecture
Hedera records transactions in a directed acyclic graph called a hashgraph. Nodes spread signed events through a gossip-about-gossip protocol, and each event carries the history of how information moved across the network. Nodes then calculate other members' votes locally from the shared graph, a method called virtual voting, so votes do not need to be sent across the network.
The network offers several native services. The Hedera Consensus Service provides timestamped message ordering without gas-based pricing. The Token Service issues fungible tokens and NFTs without custom smart contracts. The Smart Contract Service runs Solidity contracts on an EVM-compatible layer, and Hedera states that its fees are USD-pegged rather than subject to gas volatility.
Primary use cases and real-world applications
- Tokenization: Hashgraph announced Asseto, a tokenization platform developed by ioBuilders, on 3 June 2026.
- Cross-ledger payments: CLPR, a bridgeless cross-ledger protocol, was contributed to Linux Foundation Decentralized Trust on 24 September 2026. Its stated uses include cross-border payments and cross-ledger settlement.
- Supply chain: The Hashgraph Group and Merck, with support from PwC Germany, are piloting cocoa traceability using Hedera-based records, aimed at EU rules taking effect 30 December 2026.
- Identity: IBM and The Hashgraph Group agreed on 23 September 2026 to list IDTrust, an agentic AI identity solution, on the IBM Cloud Catalog.
Who is behind Hedera and where is it based?
Dr. Leemon Baird invented the hashgraph algorithm and co-founded Hedera with Mance Harmon. Baird and Harmon formed Swirlds, Inc. to test the algorithm, and Hedera was announced in March 2018. Harmon and Baird moved to co-CEO roles at Swirlds Labs in April 2022, which was renamed Hashgraph in July 2024. Sources conflict on the mainnet launch date: Messari reports August 2018, while Computerworld describes a mainnet beta launch on 29 August 2019.
Hedera Hashgraph, LLC is a Delaware limited liability company formed in 2017 by Swirlds, Inc., and it does business as Hedera Council. The Hashgraph Association is a Swiss non-profit that funds innovation for Hedera-powered solutions. Swirlds, Inc., a Delaware corporation, holds the hashgraph patents. Hedera's 2022 press releases are datelined Dallas, TX, and The Hashgraph Group's September 2026 release is datelined Schwyz, Switzerland. The sources do not confirm a single headquarters, and they do not confirm the jurisdiction of the Hedera Foundation.
Tokenomics
Total supply is fixed at 50,000,000,000 HBAR, and the Council states that total supply may not be modified without unanimous consent of its members. CoinStats reports 44,327,153,929 HBAR in circulating supply. HBAR is not mined. New supply enters circulation through scheduled allocations and treasury releases. The Council reported 43.85 billion HBAR released in Q3 2026 and states that it does not define circulating supply, so its figures are not directly comparable with market data.
Transaction fees are set in USD and converted to HBAR. A simple transfer costs about $0.0001. Fees are distributed daily to network accounts, and Hedera's documentation says staking rewards come from that distribution. Staking has no lock-up or slashing, and Hedera's materials cite rewards of up to 2.5% APY. The sources reviewed do not describe a burn mechanism.
HBAR trades at a market cap of $3.20B, ranked #40, and sits 87.31% below its all-time high of $0.5692. Its 30-day change is -29.63%.
Consensus mechanism and network security model
Hedera uses asynchronous Byzantine fault tolerance. Transactions are validated once nodes representing more than two-thirds of total staked HBAR process them. A 2019 Hedera post states that an attacker needs more than one-third of total stake to stop consensus. Account holders who do not run nodes can proxy-stake to a node to increase its weight.
Current mainnet consensus nodes are operated by Governing Council members, whose terms are limited to three years and a maximum of two consecutive terms. A 2023 Hedera post reported 23 nodes hosted independently by Council members and six hosted temporarily by the core team. The whitepaper states that the network will become permissionless once a threshold is reached, but the node documentation does not cover that transition. Council membership counts differ by source: 31 organizations as of February 2026 and 32 as of April 2026, according to SEC filings for the Canary HBAR ETF.
Key partnerships and ecosystem integrations
- Halborn joined as a Strategic Partner, and HashPack, Hashgraph Online and Genfinity joined as Community Partners, on 23 January 2026.
- FedEx joined the Governing Council on 13 February 2026, and McLaren Racing joined on 25 March 2026.
- SEALCOIN AG, a WISeKey subsidiary, was added as a partner in September 2026.
Competitive advantages and unique value proposition
Hedera positions itself on fast, fair and secure consensus, enterprise governance by a council of large organizations, and a "No-Fork" guarantee. Hedera's documentation claims up to 10,000 transactions per second for token transfers. That figure is a vendor claim, and the sources reviewed did not include independent benchmarks.
Current development activity and roadmap
The mainnet was upgraded to v0.78.2 on 28 October 2026. The testnet upgrade to v0.79 is scheduled for 4 November 2026 at 18:00 UTC and is expected to take about 40 minutes. Canary's HBAR ETF began trading on Nasdaq in October 2025. Grayscale withdrew its Hedera Trust ETF registration on 7 August 2026 and issued no shares.