Why Should You Have HBAR in Your Portfolio?

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.

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.

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 the platform.

These changes are significant as they reflect Hedera’s commitment to growth and innovation. A further update, HIP-991, will enable developers to earn money from network activity, potentially attracting a greater number of applications and increasing demand for HBAR.

Further highlighting the growth in demand for HBAR, Hedera’s recent conference, HederaCon 2025, drew over 600 attendees. The convention focused on emerging projects such as turning physical assets, like real estate, into digital tokens, giving some indication of the practical use-cases Hashgraph is heading towards. With these developments, Hedera is positioning itself for a much broader adoption across a wider base of industries, paving the way for a more diverse and scalable future.

But what does all of this mean for investors?

Should You Have HBAR in Your Portfolio?

With Hedera’s influence growing in the worlds of both crypto and mainstream technology, HBAR is showing significant promise as an investment opportunity.

Having raised over $280 million across several funding rounds, backed by major investors including Boeing HorizonX Ventures, Tata Communications, and Strobe (formerly BlackTower Capital), Hedera can attest to robust institutional support for its development. On top of this, its $7.5 billion market capitalization ranks already among the top 20 cryptocurrencies. And yet, its token HBAR seems undervalued when compared to rivals like Solana or Cardano.

HBAR is not a useless token, either. It plays a key role in securing Hedera’s network. Holders can “stake” their tokens to help run the system and earn rewards. This encourages long-term holding, strengthening the network as a whole. With a fixed supply of 50 billion tokens, HBAR could become more valuable as demand grows.

Price-wise, it has also shown promise. After dipping to $0.12 earlier in 2025, it jumped 4.5% in a single day last week, driven by the announcement that Nvidia’s AI infrastructure would be integrating Hedera technology. While it remains down from its peak, some analysts, such as those on Changelly, predict it could hit $0.25 by the end of the year, if this trend of broad adoption continues to grow.

Some unlikely voices have also hailed HBAR as an investment. Controversial investor Jordan Belfort, the “Wolf of Wall Street,” recommended Hedera (HBAR) in a 2022 Yahoo Finance interview, citing its usefulness for businesses as a major advantage. The endorsement surprised some, due to his past conviction for securities fraud and his initial skepticism toward cryptocurrency, as noted in a 2022 New York Times article. But his comments on HBAR strike at the heart its appeal to investors:

“If there’s no utility,” says Belfort, “I would probably not get involved.” With Hedera’s ties to corporations like SpaceX and Google, HBAR has shown time and again that it has real-world potential.

Risks to Consider Before Investing in HBAR

As with any investment, HBAR comes with risks. Last year, a misinterpreted announcement about BlackRock’s involvement in Hedera led to a 96% surge in HBAR’s price, which later corrected by about 35%. More recently, Trump’s ‘Liberation Day‘ tariffs wiped out billions from the crypto market. And although over $60 billion has since been recovered, the future of the trade conflict remains uncertain.

Hedera has processed tens of millions of transactions, including COVID-19 data tracking, proving that it has real-world applications. On top of this, it’s backed by some major investors. But investors in HBAR are gambling on whether the pace of Hedera’s growth has peaked, or if it will continue to rise in the future. While the technology itself is impressive, and has strong institutional support, the network must continue to grow its userbase in order to achieve wider adoption.

In part, this is because competition is already fierce. Ethereum dominates the market for smart contracts, and Solana offers similar speeds. While Hedera’s focus on enterprise provides an advantage, it has to compete with rivals such as Ripple, who are targeting the same market.

In spite of these challenges, Hedera looks well-positioned to become increasingly influential in the blockchain market as institutional interest in decentralized finance continues to grow. For both retail and institutional investors, adding HBAR to a diversified cryptocurrency portfolio could be a strategic move, es pecially as the network expands, adoption grows, and new technologies are rolled out by Hedera.

Author: Richardson Chinonyerem

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The editorial team at #DisruptionBanking has taken all precautions to ensure that no persons or organizations have been adversely affected or offered any sort of financial advice in this article. This article is most definitely not financial advice.

See Also:

How Hedera is Gaining in Popularity Down Under | Disruption Banking

Will HBAR Break Out in 2025? Hedera’s Upgrades and SpaceX Connection Explored | Disruption Banking

Why are abrdn’s money market fund investments being tokenized using Hedera? | Disruption Banking

How Hedera could turn ESG reporting from a fairytale to a reality | Disruption Banking