HBAR Price Prediction: After Rallying 15% Over the Last Week to Trade at $0.18, Is Hedera Hashgraph's Token HBAR a Buy?

After rallying 15% over the last week to trade at $0.18, Hedera Hashgraph's token HBAR is catching the attention of investors.

After rallying 15% over the last week to trade at $0.18, Hedera Hashgraph’s token HBAR is catching the attention of investors. With a $7.62 billion market cap, according to Coinbase, it still sits 64% below its 2021 peak of $0.51. But Hedera’s cutting-edge technology, expanding real-world applications, and strong institutional support from tech giants like Google could make HBAR a compelling addition to a diversified cryptocurrency portfolio.

Previous reports from Disruption Banking have highlighted the HBAR ecosystem’s growth, detailing Hedera’s upgrades and its connections to SpaceX. But what’s driving HBAR’s growth, and why should you have it in your portfolio? We can begin to answer that by looking at what sets Hedera apart from other blockchain platforms.

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What Sets Hedera and HBAR Apart From Competitors?

Hedera’s Hashgraph technology enables rapid, secure transaction processing, which sets it apart from its top competitors. With Hashgraph, Hedera can handle over 10,000 transactions per second, achieving confirmations in less than a second. It outperforms Bitcoin’s 7 transactions per second and Ethereum’s 30. But it’s also more cost-efficient, with transaction fees ranging from $0.0001 to $0.01, compared to Ethereum’s $1 to $10.

Another key advantage is Hedera’s energy efficiency. A University College London study found that Hedera’s Hashgraph consumes just 0.000003 kilowatt-hours per transaction, making it one of the most eco-friendly blockchain networks in the world. For environmentally conscious crypto investors, this is a significant draw.

Source: Hedera

To put these numbers into context, compare them with the world’s two largest cryptocurrencies by market cap: Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH). HBAR outperforms both in speed, cost, and energy efficiency, particularly for enterprise applications. However, Ethereum and Bitcoin remain dominant in decentralized finance (DeFi) and store-of-value use cases, respectively

But beyond speed and cost, Hedera’s reputable governance should also instill confidence in investors. A council of up to 39 leading companies, including IBM, Google, Boeing, and Deutsche Telekom, oversees the network. This diverse group ensures trust and stability, setting Hedera apart from projects with less transparent leadership. These industry giants actively drive Hedera’s growth and adoption, not merely lending their names to the project but contributing to its strategic development.

Real-World Uses Driving HBAR’s Value

Beyond a conceptual level, Hedera is already solving real-world problems. The Coupon Bureau, for example, uses Hedera to secure digital coupons, reducing fraud in retail. Acoer uses Hedera to track medicines through supply chains in order to ensure they’re authentic. Tata Communications relies on Hedera for secure logins. Even LG Electronics is exploring Hedera’s usefulness for connected devices like smart appliances. These are all active projects delivering results, right now.

And Hedera’s capabilities are only expanding. On April 8th, Hedera announced that it had integrated a system, Chainlink CCIP, which connects to over 46 other blockchains. This integration not only expands Hedera’s reach, but also enhances its practical utility, making it much easier for users to move their assets across various networks.

But cross-chain functionality is just one example of Hashgraph’s expansion. Hedera’s plans for the future are even more ambitious.

EQTY Lab, Intel, and NVIDIA unveil Verifiable ComputeThe new, transformative solution that addresses a critical need in the AI industry for trust and verificationHow might stories like this effect the price of the #HBAR token in 2025?https://t.co/TaWt73m4Qm

What’s Next for HBAR?

Hedera Hashgraph continues to push boundaries. A key update in January (HIP-1084) lowered fees for certain transactions, enhancing Hedera’s competitiveness against blockchain giants like Ethereum. Hedera is also planning to add “sharding,” which will allow it to handle a greater number of transactions, as well as “scheduled transactions.” This would allow for Hashgraph to support more complex agreements, such as automated payments between multiple parties. Recently, Hedera moved its code to a Linux Foundation project called Hiero, inviting more developers to contribute and build trust in