Hedera(HBAR)

Hedera launched in 2019, co-founded by Dr. Leemon Baird (who invented the hashgraph algorithm) and Mance Harmon. The network is governed by the Hedera Governing Council, which includes Google, IBM, Boeing, Dell, LG Electronics, Tata Communications, and as of December 2025, energy giant Repsol. The council has 39 members, each serving limited terms. This corporate governance model is intentional: Hedera is betting that enterprises trust a network overseen by recognizable names.

Hedera does not use a blockchain at all. It runs on hashgraph, a DAG-based consensus algorithm that uses a gossip protocol combined with virtual voting. Nodes gossip transaction data to each other, and the algorithm derives consensus mathematically without requiring nodes to actually vote. This gives Hedera asynchronous Byzantine Fault Tolerance (aBFT), which is the highest security grade for distributed consensus. The network handles over 10,000 TPS with finality in 3 to 5 seconds. Transaction fees are fixed at $0.001 for crypto transfers and $0.0001 for consensus messages. The hashgraph patent is owned by Hedera, which means no one else can run the same algorithm — a point critics raise about centralization.

Hedera is not an ISO 20022 RMG member. Rob Allen, Director of Hedera's Enterprise Adoption Team, has been unusually candid about the ISO 20022 narrative, calling the "ISO 20022 compliant blockchain" framing "overstated." He correctly points out that ISO 20022 is a messaging standard, and a blockchain does not need formal compliance. That said, Hedera's Consensus Service can carry structured data payloads compatible with ISO 20022 messaging, and the network's enterprise governance makes it a natural fit for financial institutions already dealing with ISO 20022 migration.

Real-world traction centers on tokenization and institutional pilots. In a UK first, Archax used Hedera to tokenize money market fund units and UK gilts that were then used as collateral in FX trades between Lloyds Banking Group and Aberdeen. The Reserve Bank of Australia chose Hedera for Project Acacia, exploring wholesale CBDC issuance. NVIDIA and ServiceNow partnered with Hedera on AI governance. DOVU tracks environmental credits. Atma.io by Avery Dennison, one of the largest supply chain tracking platforms, runs on Hedera. Multiple HBAR ETFs (Hashdex, 21Shares) have been trading since early 2025.

HashSphere launched in March 2025, letting organizations deploy private, permissioned networks that connect to Hedera's public mainnet and other EVM ecosystems. The Repsol council seat in December 2025 brought energy sector representation. Mid-2025 saw a 30% HBAR price spike after the NVIDIA/ServiceNow AI governance partnership announcement. Mondelez International also joined the Governing Council.

Watch whether Hedera can convert enterprise pilots into production deployments with real transaction volume. The Governing Council is impressive on paper, but critics rightly point out that council membership does not equal active on-chain usage. Also watch HashSphere adoption: if private enterprise networks using Hedera infrastructure scale, it could drive significant HBAR demand for network fees.