Invezz is an independent platform with the goal of helping users achieve financial freedom. In order to fund our work, we partner with advertisers who compensate us for users that Invezz refers to their services. While our reviews and assessments of each product on the site are independent and unbiased, brands may pay to appear higher up our table rankings or place ads in specific areas of the site. The order in which products and services appear on Invezz does not represent an endorsement from us, and please be aware that there may be other platforms available to you than the products and services that appear on our website. Read more about how we make money >
Harmony (ONE) – All you need to know
What is Harmony?
Harmony is a software platform for building applications. These apps are marketplaces where people can buy and sell assets from each other directly without going through a central body. Every transaction on Harmony is paid using its ONE token, which is also used to pay fees, vote on governance issues, and earn rewards.
One of the pioneers of this type of decentralised software is Ethereum, and Harmony builds on that technology to create a platform that can be used on a much wider scale. The Harmony team boasts a lot of software engineering experience, as it’s full of alumni from Amazon, Apple, and Google.
How does Harmony work?
Harmony works by removing the middleman and replacing it with peer-to-peer transactions. Customers can deal with each other directly, as a history of every transaction is stored on a public blockchain. Whenever a new trade happens, Harmony checks the blockchain to make sure everyone owns what they say they do, and verifies the transaction by adding it to the chain.
What makes Harmony different is its use of ‘sharding’. Normally, blocks are added one at a time. With sharding, a block is broken down into lots of different pieces – shards – that can all process transactions at the same time, before coming back together as a single block to be added to the chain. This lets Harmony cope with many more transactions than the likes of Ethereum and Bitcoin.
Fact-checking & references
Our editors fact-check all content to ensure compliance with our strict editorial policy. The information in this article is supported by the following reliable sources.
Invezz is a place where people can find reliable, unbiased information about finance, trading, and investing – but we do not offer financial advice and users should always carry out their own research. The assets covered on this website, including stocks, cryptocurrencies, and commodities can be highly volatile and new investors often lose money. Success in the financial markets is not guaranteed, and users should never invest more than they can afford to lose. You should consider your own personal circumstances and take the time to explore all your options before making any investment. Read our risk disclaimer >