Hedera Hashgraph HBAR, the native cryptocurrency of the Hedera network, has been on a strong uptrend in the past week, gaining more than 10% and reaching new highs. The rally was driven by several positive news and developments that boosted the confidence and interest of investors and users in the project.
Hedera Hashgraph HBAR Joins FedNow as a Service Provider
One of the major catalysts for the HBAR price surge was the announcement that Dropp, a Hedera-based micropayments platform, was added as a service provider for the U.S. Federal Reserve’s instant payments platform FedNow. Dropp is a pay-by-bank alternative to credit card payments that allows merchants to accept small-value purchases digitally without large transaction fees. Dropp enables micropayments in HBAR, the U.S. dollar, and Circle’s USDC stablecoin.
The inclusion of Dropp in FedNow is a significant milestone for Hedera, as it demonstrates the potential of its technology to enable fast, secure, and low-cost payments for the mainstream market. FedNow is expected to launch in 2023 and will provide instant settlement of payments between banks, businesses, and consumers in the U.S.
Hedera Hashgraph HBAR Expands Its Ecosystem and Use Cases
Another factor that contributed to the HBAR price rally was the expansion of its ecosystem and use cases across various industries. Hedera Hashgraph is a decentralized ledger technology (DLT) that uses a novel consensus algorithm called hashgraph to achieve high scalability, security, and efficiency. Hedera claims to process over 10,000 transactions per second (TPS) with low fees and finality in seconds, making it an ideal platform for various applications.
Some of the recent use cases and partnerships that Hedera announced include:
- Supply Chain Management: EDF, one of the world’s largest electricity producers and an active member of the Hedera Council, completed a proof-of-concept (POC) that aims to revolutionize and automate the management of renewable energy certificates (RECs) using Hedera.
- Decentralized Finance (DeFi): Stablecoin Studio, an open-source stablecoin issuance and management toolkit, launched on the Hedera network, enabling any organization to easily build stablecoin applications using Hedera services.
- Identity Management: Hedera partnered with Ontology, a leading blockchain-based identity platform, to provide decentralized identity solutions for Hedera users and developers5
- Internet of Things (IoT): Hedera collaborated with Everynet, a global IoT connectivity provider, to integrate its technology into Everynet’s IoT platform, enabling secure and real-time data transfer and automated decision-making.
- Gaming: Hedera supported the launch of Karateka, a Web3 game built by GameOn leveraging the IP of Karate Combat, which uses HBAR as its in-game currency and enables fast and secure in-game transactions.
Hedera Hashgraph HBAR Outperforms Its Competitors
The third factor that fueled the HBAR price rally was the relative outperformance of Hedera Hashgraph compared to its competitors in the DLT space. Hedera Hashgraph faces strong competition from other major smart contract platforms, such as Ethereum, Cardano, Solana, Avalanche, and Fantom. However, Hedera has been able to distinguish itself from its rivals by offering unique features and advantages, such as:
- Its hashgraph consensus algorithm, which ensures the highest level of security possible (asynchronous Byzantine fault tolerance or ABFT), with blazing-fast transaction speeds and incredibly low bandwidth consumption
- Its Hedera Council, which is a governing body composed of 39 leading global organizations from various sectors, such as IBM, Google, LG, Boeing, and Tata Communications, that oversee the network operations, stability, and growth
- Its Hedera Improvement Proposal (HIP) process, which is a transparent and community-driven mechanism for proposing, reviewing, and implementing changes and enhancements to the Hedera network and its services
According to a report by Messari, Hedera’s average daily active accounts have grown 288% year-to-date, jumping from 3,500 to 13,500 by Q2 2023. The report also noted that Hedera’s transaction volume and fees have increased significantly, indicating a growing demand and usage of its network.
Hedera Hashgraph HBAR has been on a bullish trend in the past week, reaching new highs and outperforming its peers. The rally was supported by several positive news and developments that showcased the potential and value of Hedera’s technology and ecosystem. With its fast, secure, and low-cost network, Hedera aims to be the leading platform for the decentralized economy and enable various real-world applications across different industries.