Utility coins
Hedera (HBAR) explained
Hedera is not a regular blockchain. It uses hashgraph to order transactions and is governed by a council of large organisations rather than anonymous miners. That brings speed and predictable fees, but also a debate about decentralisation.
Hashgraph instead of blocks
Nodes continuously gossip about what they heard and from whom; from that history each node derives the order and timestamp of a transaction. Finality arrives in seconds.
Throughput is high and fees are pinned in dollars — roughly $0.0001 for a transfer regardless of the HBAR price, which is the main selling point for enterprises.
Beyond payments, Hedera offers a token service, a consensus service for audit timestamps, and EVM-compatible smart contracts.
Governance by council
The Hedera Council is a group of organisations across sectors and countries; each runs a node, holds one vote and serves limited terms.
Upside: no anonymous majority can capture the rules, and there is an accountable organisation for compliance-driven businesses. Downside: the securing nodes are known, named and legally reachable.
Permissionless node participation is being rolled out gradually — judge the current state, not the promise.
Supply, staking and what to watch
Supply is capped at 50 billion, pre-minted, with a large share still entering circulation on schedule — the main drag on price even if usage grows.
You can stake HBAR to a node without transferring custody; rewards come from the foundation treasury rather than fees, and that policy can change.
Ask the usual utility question: is HBAR necessary for the use case, or just a unit of account for fees already priced in dollars?
Vanliga frågor
Is Hedera a blockchain?
Not strictly. It uses hashgraph gossip to derive ordering, producing a shared immutable ledger without blocks.
Can I stake HBAR?
Yes, by assigning your balance to a node without giving up custody. Rewards come from the foundation treasury.
Why do critics call Hedera centralised?
Because the securing nodes are run by a closed council of known organisations, making the network dependent on a limited group.
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