Hedera is a decentralized, open-source, proof-of-stake public ledger built on the hashgraph consensus algorithm, governed by a decentralized council of industry leaders. It offers fast and secure performance through its Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) smart contracts and native tokenization, enabling the creation of real-time web3 applications. The network’s native cryptocurrency, HBAR, serves as a means of transaction fee payment and network security through its proof-of-stake mechanism.