How To Buy Harmony (ONE)?

A common question you often see on social media from crypto beginners is “Where can I buy Harmony?” Well, you’ll be happy to hear it is actually quite a simple and straightforward process. 

Step 1: Create an account on an exchange that supports Harmony (ONE)

First, you will need to open an account on a cryptocurrency exchange that supports Harmony (ONE).
We recommend the following based on functionality, reputation, security, support and fees:

In order to sign up, you will need to enter some basic information, such as your email address, password, full name and, in some cases, you might also be asked for a phone number or address.

Note: On specific exchanges, you might need to complete a Know Your Customer (KYC) procedure in order to be able to purchase cryptocurrency. This is most commonly the case with licensed and regulated exchanges.

Step 2: Deposit funds into your account

Many cryptocurrency exchanges will allow you to purchase Harmony (ONE) with fiat currencies, such as EUR, USD, AUD and others. Furthermore, they will also provide you with multiple deposit methods through which you can fund your fiat account, such as credit and debit cards, ewallets or direct bank transfers.

Note: Some payment methods will have higher fees than others, such as credit card payments. Before funding your fiat account on your chosen exchange, make sure to do your due diligence to find out the fees involved with each payment method to avoid unnecessary costs.

Step 3: Buy Harmony (ONE)

This process is similar across almost every cryptocurrency exchange. All you have to do is find a navigation bar or a search bar, and search for Harmony (ONE) or Harmony (ONE) trading pairs. Look for the section that will allow you to buy Harmony (ONE), and enter the amount of the cryptocurrency that you want to spend for Harmony (ONE) or the amount of fiat currency that you want to spend towards buying Harmony (ONE). The exchange will then calculate the equivalent amount of Harmony (ONE) based on the current market rate.

Note: Make sure to always double-check your transaction details, such as the amount of Harmony (ONE) you will be buying as well as the total cost of the purchase before you end up confirming the transaction. Furthermore, many cryptocurrency exchanges will offer you their own proprietary software wallet where you will be storing your cryptocurrencies; however, you can create your own individual software wallet, or purchase a hardware wallet for the highest level of protection.

For more in-depth instructions, our ‘Absolute Beginner’s Guide To Cryptocurrency Investing‘ will take you through the process step-by step. In addition to providing instructions for sending and receiving your cryptocurrency.
And if you’re completely new to crypto our beginner, intermediate and advanced level articles will get you up to speed with everything you need to know about the cryptocurrency space starting out. 

Simplecryptoguide.com

What Is Harmony (ONE)?

Launched as part of the initial exchange offering (IEO) on the Binance Launchpad in May 2019, Harmony (ONE) is a decentralized blockchain platform designed as a bridge between scalability and decentralization efforts. Its development went under the motto of “decentralization at scale” with the focus on data sharing and the creation of marketplaces of fungible tokens and non-fungible assets. Furthermore, Harmony comes with an additional promise of delivering high throughput accompanied by two “lows”: latency and fees. Combined, they are supposed to put the platform at the heart of the efforts to lay the foundation of the future decentralized trustless economies.

What Is Harmony Trying to Achieve?

Harmony’s development focused on the idea that no platform has achieved a satisfying degree of balance between decentralization and scalability, as explained in the project’s whitepaper. Based on this, it promises to deliver the goods on the following goals:

• Harmony wants to get rid of structural limitations preventing the cryptocurrencies from becoming genuine digital money. This primarily refers to the scalability problem, such as that faced by Bitcoin whose increased popularity created performance and brought about increased costs of the use of its payment system. Instead of this, Harmony will implement deep sharding technology which covers not only the transaction validation and network communication, but the blockchain state as well. Its bid for full scalability is based on getting rid of the modular approach and trying to solve consensus “on scale”. This includes optimizations which are being added across multiple layers of consensus algorithms, networking and systems to improve performance without hurting decentralization.
• Higher transaction throughput is what should set Harmony apart from the likes of Ethereum and other blockchain solutions which are forced to achieve performance gains by sacrificing other features. Harmony developers describe competing solutions as unable to resolve scalability issues or provide support for applications which require high throughput performance, such as with gaming or decentralized exchanges. Similarly, blockchains such as EOS or IOTA tried replacing consensus models and introducing new tech, such as directed acyclic graph (DAG). All of these came at the expense of security and/or decentralization which Harmony aims to preserve by creating shards (groups) of validators that would be able to process transactions simultaneously. Based on this, the total transaction throughput should increase in a linear manner and in parallel with the growth in the number of shards. In September 2018, Harmony’s testnet managed to achieve 118,000 TPS with some 44,000 nodes, with the hope to close the gap to the Visa’s 2,000 TPS on a daily basis.
• Harmony’s consensus protocol goes for speed and energy efficiency. Much of the Harmony’s scalability and throughput promises rest on the ability of its Fast Byzantine Fault Tolerant protocol (FBFT) to employ parallel transaction processing to scale with the size of the network and effectively tackle its connection latency. Its network topology is designed to enable for faster consensus reaching and message exchange. At the same time, Harmony features a kernel designed to run its protocol in a manner which allows a wider range of devices to participate in the consensus building, thus strengthening its decentralization. The deep sharding process itself relies on adaptive proof-of-stake model based on distributed randomness generation (DRG) procedure which is described as secure, easily verifiable and scalable.

How Does Harmony’s Deep Sharding Work?

Sharding has emerged as one of the methods by which the blockchain developers aim to increase transaction speeds of the blockchain-based platforms. In short, the concept rests on the approach which is already being used in databases to improve their efficiency. One of the best-known implementations of sharding in the crypto world is the one used with Zilliqa. Each of its shards is capable of processing a fraction of the totality of transactions taking place on the Zilliqa network. The platform thus profits from the increased number of shards on it, as the transaction can be managed by more units which take care of them.

Supposedly, the problem the Harmony developers have with this approach is that it does not include the division of the blockchain data storage. This prevents the devices with limited access to resources to participate in the network and increases the risk of single-shard takeover attacks. Instead of this, Harmony proposes the deep sharding of the blockchain state:

• This approach involves sharding on both the transaction and consensus layers.
• Based on this, the nodes can identify other nodes which can play a role in the transaction and make transactions only with them as part of the consensus-building procedure.
• This is supposed to improve the parallel processing capacity and, in turn, throughput performance of the platform.
• Finally, the elimination of the need to store the whole of the blockchain state by the nodes allows smaller capacity devices to become nodes on the network as well.

What is the ONE Token?

The ONE token keeps the cogs of the Harmony’s ecosystem up and running by enabling participation in it and serving as the payment vehicle for various activities on the network. This is done in the following manner:

• The One token is used as a stake in the consensus model used with Harmony. The holders can earn block rewards and are incentivized to keep the system healthy.
• The tokens are used to pay for various fees, including the transaction fees, storage fees and gas fees.
• With the help of ONE tokens, the holders are granted voting rights as part of the platform’s governance system.

Who Are the Founders of Harmony?

Stephen Tse is the founder and CEO of Harmony. He has a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania, specializing in cryptographic protocols and type theory.

While finishing his degree, Dr. Tse became a research intern at Microsoft. In 2006 he started working as a senior engineer at Google, spending four years in the company. In 2011 he founded Spotsetter, a successful search engine which Apple later acquired. In 2014, Dr. Tse became the principal engineer for Apple.

Harmony development updates in 2023

In 2023, Harmony has focused on several key areas to enhance its blockchain ecosystem, aiming to improve scalability, decentralization, and usability. Here are the most significant developments:

• State Prune: Harmony is working on a state pruning solution to reduce storage requirements for full nodes. This will allow nodes to delete old, unnecessary data, improving network speed and efficiency.

• Cross Shard Transactions: The protocol is enhancing its scalability by enabling transactions to be processed across multiple shards. This involves significant changes to transaction processing and consensus algorithms.

• Light Clients: Harmony is developing light client functionality to make network participation more accessible. This will allow users to interact with the network without running a full node.

• Leader Rotation: To bolster decentralization and security, Harmony is implementing a system for rotating the leaders of each shard, involving a new leader selection algorithm integrated into the consensus protocol.

• State Sync: The protocol is focusing on an efficient state sync solution, allowing nodes to effectively exchange state data, crucial for maintaining network speed and efficiency.

• Effective Proof of Stake (EPoS): Harmony employs EPoS as its consensus mechanism. It combines attributes of Proof of Stake (PoS) and Proof of Work (PoW) to ensure fair validator selection and network integrity, while being more environmentally friendly than traditional PoW systems.

• Smart Contract Security: Harmony places a strong emphasis on the security of its smart contracts. It conducts thorough audits and offers developer-friendly options for smart contract development, ensuring the integrity and safety of the network.

• Sustainability and Governance: The network is committed to sustainable energy practices and decentralized governance. Users are encouraged to participate in the network through staking and have a say in its development and decision-making processes.

These advancements showcase Harmony’s dedication to creating a scalable, secure, and user-friendly blockchain ecosystem. By focusing on key areas such as cross-shard transactions, light clients, and a unique consensus mechanism, Harmony is positioning itself as a significant player in the blockchain space in 2023.

For more detailed information on Harmony’s development updates, you can visit their official blog and open.harmony.one.

Official website: https://www.harmony.one/

Best cryptocurrency wallet for Harmony (ONE)

There are plenty of different crypto wallets available. The best one for you depends on your general trading habits and which provides the most security in your situation. There are two main types of wallets: hot storage wallets (digital) and cold storage or hardware wallets (physical). Both have their pros and cons, and there is not necessarily a right or wrong answer when it comes to figuring out which crypto wallet is best for you.

HOW DO I DECIDE WHICH cryptocurrency WALLET TO USE for Harmony (ONE)?

Deciding which type of wallet to use depends on a variety of factors, including:

• How often you trade. In general, hot wallets are better for more active cryptocurrency traders. Quick login ability means you are only a few clicks and taps away from buying and selling crypto. Cold wallets are better suited for those looking to make less frequent trades. 
• What you want to trade. As mentioned earlier, not all wallets support all types of cryptocurrencies. However, some of the best crypto wallets have the power to trade hundreds of different currencies, providing more of a one-size-fits-all experience.
• Your peace of mind. For those worried about hacking, having a physical cold wallet stored in a safe deposit box at the bank or somewhere at home, provides the safest, most secure option. Others might be confident in their ability to keep their hot wallets secure.
• How much it costs. It is important to investigate the costs associated with each wallet. Many hot wallets will be free to set up. Meanwhile, cold wallets, like any piece of hardware, will cost money to purchase.
• What it can do. While the basics of each cryptocurrency wallet are the same, additional features can help set them apart. This is especially true of hot wallets, many of which come with advanced reporting features, insights into the crypto market, the ability to convert cryptocurrencies and more. Security features can also be a good differentiator.

For a more in-depth overview of cryptocurrency wallets visit our “Cryptocurrency Wallets Explained” guide.

If you’re going to be dealing in larger volumes of crypto, investing in cold storage might prove advantageous.
Most widespead examples of this being the Ledger Nano and the Trezor.

Ledger manufactures cold storage wallets designed for users who want increased security. Their wallets are a physical device that connects to your computer. Only when the device is connected can you send your cryptocurrency from it. Ledger offers a variety of products, such as the Ledger Nano S and the Ledger Nano X (a bluetooth connected hardware wallet).

Trezor is a pioneering hardware wallet company. The combination of world-class security with an intuitive interface and compatibility with other desktop wallets, makes it ideal for beginners and experts alike. The company has gained a lot of the Bitcoin community’s respect over the years. Trezor offers two main models – The Trezor One and Trezor Model T (which has a built in touch screen).