What is Harmony (ONE)?
Harmony (ONE) was launched in May 2019 as a part of Binance Launchpad’s Initial Exchange Offering (IEO). IEOs allow crypto tokens to be launched and sold under the supervision of a crypto exchange on behalf of the developing company. IEOs were introduced after audiences lost trust in Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs), which involved the launch and sales of tokens over the developing company’s own platform.
A layer-2 solution (built on top of the original blockchain), Harmony is an open blockchain running on the Ethereum network (layer 1). It promises high performance in 2 key areas – latency (processing lag) and cost.
Blockchain transactions are validated by a network of computers (nodes) scattered across the globe. After validation, a specific amount of data from transactions across the globe is bundled and added to the blockchain as a ‘block.’ Once a block is added, the data can neither be reversed nor be modified – a concept called ‘finality.’
Harmony boasts of 2-second finality, which means that a block is added to its blockchain within 2 seconds – very low latency. The same process on the Bitcoin blockchain takes 10 minutes and 12-14 seconds on the Ethereum blockchain – very high latency.
ONE is the native cryptocurrency of the Harmony blockchain. It is used for all transactions on the Harmony chain, including mining rewards, gas fees, transaction fees, and voting. (Voting between the nodes happens when key changes/upgrades…
