Hedera (HBAR) is the native token of Hedera Hashgraph, a decentralized ledger based on directed acyclic graph technology.

Hedera minted 50 billion HBAR coins when the network went live in August 2018. That supply is fixed. About 45% of the coins were issued to investors and the team, and about 55% was reserved for the Hedera treasury.

Hedera started trading in September 2019. It generally traded below $0.03 until the crypto boom of 2021, when its price rose to $0.40 in April 2021. After a dip back to $0.17 in July 2021, HBAR rose again the same year, hitting highs of $0.57 in September 2021. Like many other coins, HBAR couldn’t sustain its high, and eight months later, it had slumped to $0.13.

Hedera used something called a “directed acyclic graph,” or DAG, an alternative network to blockchain technology that aims to speed up the network’s ability to validate transactions as it grows. Its development was led by Hedera’s co-founder and one-time chief scientist, Dr. Leemon Baird.

HBAR is the protocol’s native currency and is used to settle transactions, analogous to ether (ETH) for Ethereum or bitcoin (BTC) for Bitcoin. Holders can also stake the token to earn more HBAR. Hedera supports the Ethereum Virtual Machine, meaning that it supports ERC-20 smart contracts.

Hedera plans to distribute its tokens over 15 years. In 2018, it raised $124 million in several initial coin offerings (ICOs). The token sales were structured as “simple agreement for future tokens” (SAFTs) offerings, meaning that tokens will be distributed over time, subject to lockups.

SAFTs were designed to avoid the ire of securities regulators by distributing tokens after the network had decentralized. In theory, that would mean securities regulators wouldn’t point fingers at a token issuer for securities violations. SAFTs have had mixed success. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission shut down Telegram’s blockchain network, TON, which had sold tokens through a SAFT sale.

Hedera’s nodes are operated by its council, a revolving door of up to 39 companies. Members include Ubisoft, Google, UCL, Boeing (BA) and Deutsche Telekom. As of May 2022, the council had 26 members. Members can serve up to two consecutive terms, and each term can last for three years. The council is also responsible for governing the direction of the platform’s codebase.

Alongside Baird, the inventor, Hedera Hashgraph was co-founded by Mance Harmon, who served as the CEO of its Dallas-based Hedera Foundation – the organization that oversees the Hedera network. In May 2022, Baird and Harmon left the Hedera Foundation to launch Swirlds Labs, a software company that leverages Hedera. Baird will continue to contribute to Hedera as a council representative of Swirlds, and will sit on its technical committees.

Hedera has used its treasury reserves to launch development funds. In March 2022, it opened a $100 million fund for projects that focus on sustainable development. In the same month, it introduced a $155 million “crypto economy” fund to attract decentralized finance (DeFi) projects. And in April 2022 it launched a $250 million fund to attract metaverse apps.