HBAR is a cryptocurrency that’s part of the Hedera Hashgraph system – a decentralized network for building apps.
The HBAR coin is one of the top 50 cryptocurrencies in the world based on market cap, according to the website Coinmarketcap.
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But like all cryptocurrencies HBAR is highly volatile and its value can go down as well as up in the blink of an eye.
You could lose all you money investing in cryptocurrency and you should never invest money you can’t afford to lose – or in financial products you don’t understand.
There’s no guarantee that you’ll be able to convert your crypto investment back into cash either and you could be charged higher fees than on traditional financial products.
Cryptocurrencies are not regulated so you won’t have the same protections either if something goes wrong.
Newer cryptocurrencies can also be riskier than more established coins like bitcoin.
What is HBAR and what is it worth?
Hashgraph is similar to a blockchain and was created in 2017 by American computer scientist Leemon Baird.
The Hedera Hashgraph system is a distributed ledger built on Hashgraph and was created by Baird along with Mance Harmon.
HBAR is the cryptocurrency of the Hedera Hashgraph.
The company itself expalins: “HBAR is the native, energy-efficient cryptocurrency of the Hedera public network.”
It claims to be the third generation public ledger after “Bitcoin pioneered decentralized infrastructure and Ethereum brought programmability”.
There is a total HBAR supply of 50billion units and according to Coinmarketcap almost 7billion were in circulation as of January 2021 – around 14% of the total supply.
There is a governing council for Hedrera and members include well-known companies like Google IBM and Boeing.
You can buy and sell HBAR on some cryptoexchanges ans is currently trading at $0.3987 at the time of writing.
HBAR’s up nearly 5% in the past 24 hours and down just over 10% from it’s all time high back in March of $0.4495.
Myron Jobson, Personal Finance Campaigner, interactive investor, says that one of Hedra’s unique selling points is its purported energy efficiency credentials.
He told The Sun: “Unlike the Bitcoin network which uses more in one year as the country of Argentina, analysis by Cambridge University suggests, Hedra claims to be a low carbon footprint public ledger.”
“It is part of the InterWork Alliance’s (IWA) Sustainability Business Working Group which aims to aid global efforts on sustainability in the crypto space by in a number of ways, including standardizing carbon offsets.
“Proof-of-stake blockchains like Hedra inherently consumes energy to function – there is no getting around it.
“The effectiveness of carbon offset is difficult for the lay investor to gauge based on the publicly available information.
What are the risks of HBRA?
Mt Jobson adds: “Hedera Hashgraph still has a long way to go in proving its concept. The usual warnings over risk and volatility applies here.”
Below we round up five risks of investing in cryptocurrencies.
- Consumer protection: Some investments advertising high returns based on cryptoassets may not be subject to regulation beyond anti-money laundering requirements.
- Price volatility: Significant price volatility in cryptoassets, combined with the inherent difficulties of valuing cryptoassets reliably, places consumers at a high risk of losses.
- Product complexity: The complexity of some products and services relating to cryptoassets can make it hard for consumers to understand the risks. There is no guarantee that cryptoassets can be converted back into cash. Converting a cryptoasset back to cash depends on demand and supply existing in the market.
- Charges and fees: Consumers should consider the impact of fees and charges on their investment which may be more than those for regulated investment products.
- Marketing materials: Firms may overstate the returns of products or understate the risks involved.
Pi Network warn users of scams and explain how to spot fraudulent activity
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