Can Hashgraph, the ‘blockchain rival’, make Hedera (HBAR) backers rich?

Highlights 

• Hashgraph claims to be an improvement over blockchain’s decentralized ledger services
• Hedera Hashgraph uses the native token Hedera (HBAR) to allow users to build smart contracts on the network
• Hedera crypto has returned over 1,000 per cent so far in 2021

If you thought blockchain is synonymous with decentralized ledger, think again. Blockchain is indeed the most popular technology for distributed peer-to-peer ledger, but it isn’t the only one.

Competing with blockchain’s dominance is the hashgraph technology, which Leemon Baird introduced in 2017. A few analysts call the hashgraph network an improved version of blockchain, others call it a just a successor.

What is hashgraph?

The debate over hashgraph versus blockchain is heating up. This can be attributed to the rise of blockchain-based digital currencies like Bitcoin and Dogecoin. Just like Ethereum’s blockchain is sometimes seen as a continuation of Bitcoin’s blockchain, but with more features like smart contracts and decentralized finance (DeFi), hashgraph is being touted as continuation of blockchain.

Hashgraph runs on a consensus algorithm, which underpins any decentralized ledger. However, unlike blockchain, hashgraph’s network has no miners, which essentially exist in the former to validate a transaction.

Hashgraph as an alternative uses its ‘gossip about gossip’ consensus protocol. It does away with building blocks, and instead focuses on nodes’ gossip over transactions as a medium for validation. These gossips are underpinned by digital signatures and a timestamp, which contain hashes for a couple of previous events on the network.

Also read: Can Bitcoin end 2021 with a price tag of $100,000?

What is hashgraph cryptocurrency?

Like blockchain, which has allowed cryptos like Bitcoin and Ether to become top assets by market value, hashgraph is aiding the rise of Hedera cryptocurrency. Hedera’s ticker is HBAR, and it is the native token of Hedera Hashgraph. On its website, the network claims to be governed by leading companies, including Google and IBM.

Here, it is notable that hashgraph is the technology, Hedera Hashgraph is the company, and Hedera is the cryptocurrency.

Also read: Blockchain, cryptocurrencies, NFT & CBDC: Difference explained in 4 paras

Is hashgraph better than blockchain?

It is difficult to answer the question considering that both the networks have yet to mature into a definitive ecosystem. Hedera claims that it weeds out excessive power consumption attribute that ails blockchain. In Hedera’s proof-of-stake network, public ledgers can have faster speeds and lower fees. Hashgraph allows virtually everything that blockchain does -- including the minting of fungible and non-fungible tokens.

On its website, Hedera Hashgraph claims to have achieved almost 2,700,000 transactions per day, which is pretty less than blockchain. As hashgraph entered the decentralized ledger space almost a decade after Bitcoin hit the scene, it might take more time to fully rival blockchain.

Also read: Top Ethereum-based DeFi platforms of 2021

Hedera cryptocurrency price prediction

If Bitcoin catapulted blockchain’s status, Hedera (HBAR) is doing more or less the same to hashgraph.

On January 1, 2021, Hedera crypto was priced at nearly US$0.032. As of now, the price is nearly US$0.4 and the market cap of Hedera crypto is US$6 billion. Hedera can have a maximum supply of 50 billion, of which nearly 15 billion tokens are currently in supply.

The price of Hedera reached US$0.5 in mid-September and has since been oscillating between US$0.3 and US$0.45. The capability of the network to support decentralized apps and smart contracts is likely to add more appeal, given it demonstrates a real edge over industry leader blockchain tech.

Also read: Is Bitcoin better than gold as hedge against high inflation?

Bottom line

New concepts like non-fungible tokens, DeFi and DApps are being added to the distributed ledger space to add to its usage. For now, blockchain remains the most formidable leader, thanks to the popularity of linked cryptos like Bitcoin and Ether, but hashgraph comes with a promise of improving the network. It is the adoption of hashgraph over blockchain in the future that can lift the demand for Hedera token.