Hedera (HBAR)
System: Hedera — Blockspace Production
Hedera is a public ledger that sells metered consensus ordering and execution for transactions and smart contract calls, enabling developers and end users to record state changes via Hedera network services. Founded in 2018, it uses hashgraph consensus (Hiero) alongside EVM smart contracts. The system boundary includes the mainnet ledger, consensus and mirror nodes, fee and staking accounts, and the Hedera Council and Hiero governance, while excluding third-party dApps and exchanges.
Market Data
| Price | $0.086812 |
| Market Cap | $3.76B |
| Fully Diluted Valuation | $4.34B |
| 30d Change | -9.66% |
| 365d Change | -46.69% |
Token Functionalities
Service Provision
- State Transition Execution and Transaction Sequencing
Right to have one’s HBAR balance counted as such that it contributes to stake‑weighted consensus (consensus weight) and to earn staking rewards for that contribution, subject to protocol parameters (minimum staking period; node min/max stake thresholds; reward-rate parameters).
Governance
- Actor Set Permissioning (Partial)
Right to re-weight the effective consensus influence (stake weight) of admitted consensus nodes by choosing which node one’s HBAR is staked to (proxy staking). Partial because token delegation impacts weight within a permissioned node set but cannot appoint/remove consensus nodes (permissioned Council operator set).
Payments
- Native Resource Fee (Strong)
Right to consume Hedera network processing resources (submit transactions that nodes process into consensus) by paying transaction fees in HBAR.
System Attributes
Operating Model
Hedera operates as an on-chain protocol for users (transactions are metered and settled on-chain), but the supply-side operators (consensus nodes) are permissioned and run by Hedera Council members (a corporate entity), and key operational decisions (pricing, upgrades, treasury actions) are made via an identifiable off-chain governance body.
Value Creation
The economically valuable service (ordering/execution into a consensus state) is produced by the mainnet’s consensus nodes, which receive transactions, charge fees, and contribute to consensus.
Value Capture
Hedera’s primary cashflows are transaction fees in HBAR that are captured and routed via on-chain accounts: fees are split between a network account and the node that submitted the transaction, and current mirror-node stake parameters show explicit fee fractions to staking reward and node reward pools.
Governance
Hedera’s system governance is primarily off-chain and entity-governed, with binding authority over protocol upgrades, economic parameters, and treasury management exercised by the Hedera Council through equal-weight council voting. Consensus node operation is participant-based but permissioned, as mainnet nodes are operated by Council member organisations rather than open participants. Token-based governance exists only in a narrow, scoped form, where HBAR holders can bindingly re-weight consensus influence by staking to admitted nodes, without authority over admission or protocol parameters.