Hedera Hashgraph: A Green Crypto to Watch

With the green movement and resulting clamors for climate protection, regulators are seeking stronger measures to safeguard themselves. Meanwhile, the world’s largest crypto, Bitcoin (BTC), has been criticized for its massive energy consumption, a trait that’s typical of every proof of work (PoW) protocol. So it’s a no-brainer that there’s a real need for green cryptocurrencies.

The scalability of the crypto world depends on how clean the protocols can be. Hedera Hashgraph is known for its environmental sustainability — which is vital for future crypto mass adoption.

Let’s discuss how Hedera works and if it’s a good investment choice.

What Is a Hedera Hashgraph?

The Hedera Hashgraph network is a carbon-negative network that acts as a distributed ledger for transaction fees and payments of all types, including in-app payments and micropayments. It’s also used for network protection. Developers use Hedera Hashgraph to build a secured application that has a real-time consensus. Hedera is more of a graph than a blockchain, hence it’s called Hedera Hashgraph.

Hedera is based on a technology popularly referred to as the directed acyclic graph (DAG). This technology allows the network to achieve blazing fast transaction speeds of up to 10, 000 transactions per second (TPS) without the need for mining. It also presents users with low fees of only $0.0001 per transaction.

Hedera not only boasts lightning-fast transactions at a low cost. It also has an energy efficiency that’s 885,000 times higher than that of Bitcoin. Every user burns just 0.001 kilowatt-hours of energy per transaction. In comparison, transactions in Bitcoin consume 885 kWh of energy.

Source: Hedera.com

Hedera Hashgraph consists of four major services. These are a consensus service, a token service, smart contracts and a file service.

Key Features of Hedera Hashgraph

Below are the four main features of the Hedera Hashgraph:

Hedera Consensus Service (HSC): The HSC allows websites and networks to take advantage of the hashgraph consensus algorithm that acts as a trust layer for a secure and verifiable log of events.

Hedera Token Service: This allows users to mint, configure and manage both fungible and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on the Hedera Hashgraph platform.

Smart Contracts: Allow developers to build decentralized applications (DApps) with many possible use cases.

File Storage: A decentralized file storage service with features like file creation, updates and deletion.

How Does Hedera Hashgraph Work?

Hedera Hashgrap operates through a system called asynchronous Byzantine fault tolerance (aBFT), which enables a high level of security even if there’s a compromised user on the network. It’s much faster than Bitcoin and Ethereum’s networks because it follows a parallel transaction processing pattern, rather than the serial manner that any typical blockchain technology uses.

Gossip is the medium through which the network reaches a consensus while nodes on the hashgraph talk to each other and review notes of network transactions. This is fundamentally different from the mining process that Bitcoin and many other altcoin networks follow. The selected transactions are identified as “Famous” by the nodes, as they’re communicated early in the gossip process and are quickly verified by multiple nodes found across the network.

The consensus protocol is governed by a council of 39 leading businesses and organizations which makes decisions about software upgrades, network pricing and treasury management.

It’s notable that the Hedera Hashgraph project is already being used to facilitate sustainability projects, including Power Transition, a highly scalable peer-to-peer digital energy platform that allows people to trade energy within microgrids.

Pros and Cons of Hedera Hashgraph

Pros

• Hedera Hashgraph is faster than most major blockchains such as Bitcoin, Ethereum and Cardano. It can handle 10,000 transactions per second.
• Its low, predictable fees cost only $0.001 per transaction, as compared to Bitcoin’s, which cost an average of $22.57, and Ethereum, ranging at $19.55.
• Hedera Hashgraph supports object-oriented programming languages like Solidity, and can be used for smart contracts.
• Hedera Hashgraph provides a high level of security on all networks.

Cons

• Hedera Hashgraph is patented and thus does not allow forking.
• The network’s development is rather centralized, as it’s governed by a 39-member council.
• Currently, Hedera Hashgraph can only handle 10 TPS on transactions that involve smart contracts.

What Is HBAR?

HBAR is the native token of the Hedera Hashgraph network. It’s used for powering DApps, building peer-to-peer transactional models and protecting the network from malicious actors.

Use Cases

Hedera Hashgraph can be used for many things. Apart from powering energy-efficient cryptocurrencies and DApps, it’s also used for network protection, fungible management and data logging. Hedera is currently being used by Boeing, Deutsche Telekom, Google, Tata Communications, IBM, LG Electronics, and many other global companies.

HBAR Tokenomics

Source: CoinMarketCap.com

Note: Figures below are accurate as of this writing (7/7/2022) and are approximated up to two decimal places.

Total Supply — 50 billion HBAR

Circulating Supply — 21 billion HBAR

Market Value — $0.06

Market Cap — $1.31 billion

24-Hour Trading Volume — $20.31 million

Hedera Hashgraph Price Prediction: Is Hedera Hashgraph a Good Investment?

Hedera claims that its distributed technology combines the advantages of public and private ledgers, giving users both the privacy of a decentralized platform and the security of a centralized network. Hedera aims to provide a fast and secure network that’s geared towards fairness for all.

As a green cryptocurrency, Hedera’s resolve to be carbon-negative makes it a viable solution to the energy-intensive outputs of older blockchains like Bitcoin’s.

In addition, Hedera Hashgraph allows every one of its users to stake their coins to receive rewards. This lets investors hold significant stakes on the Hedera platform, while at the same time reaping benefits in order to help guarantee the stability of the network.

All of these considerations make Hedera a good investment. However, you still need to DYOR — do your own research — before you buy. After all, experts have varying opinions on the future of Hedera’s price. WalletInvestor has bearish views on it, expecting it to slump to a low of $0.005 in a year. CryptoNewsZ is more bullish in its predictions, estimating its value to hit $1.00 by 2030.

How To Buy Hedera Hashgraph (HBAR)

You can buy or trade the Hedera crypto (HBAR) on many notable cryptocurrency exchanges, such as Bybit. Here’s how it works on Bybit:

Explore Your Trading Options

Depending on the cryptocurrency, Bybit has a variety of ways to buy or trade. HBAR can be traded in two ways: Spot trading or derivatives.

For spot trading, after funding your account with BTC or USDT, simply select HBAR/USDT. After selecting it, you’ll be redirected to an exchange page with a corresponding cryptocurrency pair, HBAR/USDT. Otherwise, you can also buy it as a derivative. Derivatives are contracts used to bet on an asset’s future price, rather than its current price. At Bybit, it’s easy to trade derivatives since altcoins are paired with USDT.

All the USDT perpetual contracts on Bybit are settled in USDT, and the account P&L and contract margins are also calculated in USDT. The steps for trading the HBARUSDT perpetual contract on Bybit are listed below.

Step 1

To begin trading assets on the exchange, you must be a registered Bybit user. It takes just a few minutes to register for an account. Visit the Bybit website and click on Sign Up to register. Enter your phone number or email address and set up your account. You can start trading immediately after your account is verified.

Step 2

To begin trading HBARUSDT, you must deposit USDT. First, go to the Bybit Fiat page to purchase USDT. Start by clicking on Assets → Derivatives, search for USDT, and then click on Deposit.

Step 3

Click on Derivatives → USDT Perpetual → HBARUSDT. You’ll be directed to the trading terminal.

Source: Bybit.com

The order zone is on the right. To trade the HBARUSDT pair, you can use a limit, market or conditional order. To reduce slippage and trade the asset class at your preferred price, we recommend placing a limit order as opposed to a market order. A limit order also requires lower fees than a market order.

Enter the price at which you wish to buy the HBAR token, as well as the number of HBAR tokens you’d like to buy. (Editor’s note: Before making a trade, please ensure you’re well-informed on the risks of margin trading.)

Step 4

You can open long or short trades with a single click. Select Long if you believe that the price will go upside, and Short if you think the price will move downside. To manage your risks, make sure to include both take-profit and stop-loss orders in your trades. You can choose from the available percentages, or key in your preferred figure.

Step 5

Finally, you can keep track of your transactions in the Order Status section that’s located at the bottom of the trading terminal. To close your trade, choosing to close by limit will also help ensure that you close at your preferred price.

Closing Thoughts

Hedera Hashgraph is a third-generation public ledger that has the potential to become one of the fast-rising cryptocurrencies after Bitcoin and Ethereum. It’s a very fast and secure decentralized blockchain. It provides a public network used for all kinds of transactions, while at the same time providing a safe and trusted environment. Its widespread use cases, eco-friendly nature and existing partnerships with several global companies make HBAR a promising crypto to watch.