Why Is HBAR Going Down?

The Corporate Blockchain Faces Market Reality

Hedera, the enterprise-grade distributed ledger governed by a council of global corporations, is currently trading at approximately $0.13, dropping over 22% in the last month. But what exactly is causing this decline?

Unlike traditional blockchain projects, Hedera uses hashgraph consensus, a digital ledger technology different from standard blockchains. The platform’s Governing Council (including names like Google and IBM) endows it with corporate support that not many crypto projects can level up with. Yet, despite all of this, HBAR has faced huge price drops throughout 2025.

The downturn in the broader cryptocurrency market affects every digital asset, regardless of how strong its underlying project is. But at the same time, problems specific to Hedera are lowering the confidence of holders of its token.

This article will explore the reasons for Hedera’s price drop. We will examine the impact of the broader market downturn, the specific challenges and narratives surrounding Hedera, and the key technical levels for HBAR.

The Inescapable Market Downturn

High Correlation to Majors

Hedera (HBAR) Technical Price Chart. Source: CoinGecko

Despite strong interest from major institutions, HBAR’s price recently dropped to a daily low of $0.1424 and is currently trading around $0.146, down 3.6% over the past 24 hours. In early November 2025, the token had fallen below the important support level of $0.1900, highlighting continued short-term volatility.

The highest price Hedera (HBAR) has ever reached was $0.5692, and its lowest was $0.009861. Currently, as of the time of writing, the token is trading at a level 74.33% below that peak value, showing a significant drop from its all-time high.

However, it is also trading at a price higher than its lowest point by 1,381.76%. This indicates that while the price has fallen sharply from its all-time high, HBAR has seen considerable growth since its earliest, lowest market price. This movement also signals, to some degree, that HBAR’s price is highly tied to how the crypto prices of Bitcoin and Ethereum perform.

When Bitcoin pulls back from its peak prices, big institutional investors and everyday traders both reduce the risk in their entire crypto portfolios. This behavior, called “risk-off,” hits smaller altcoins the hardest.

Even with billions in market value and corporate support, HBAR follows this pattern. A price drop of 5% to 10% in Bitcoin typically causes an even larger drop of 8% to 15% in HBAR as traders cut their exposure proportionally.

Broader Macro Environment

The cryptocurrency market as a whole is currently facing headwinds from macroeconomic and geopolitical factors that extend beyond the industry itself. Uncertainty around Federal Reserve policy, rising interest rates, inflation concerns, and global tensions between major economies all weigh heavily on investor sentiment, particularly affecting speculative assets.

Even though HBAR primarily targets enterprise adoption and corporate use cases, it is still classified as a speculative investment by traditional financial standards. As a result, positive crypto market news, such as new Hedera partnerships, major network upgrades, or technical milestones, often has limited impact on the token’s price.

In a market dominated by cautious or risk-averse sentiment, broader macro pressures can overshadow fundamental progress, keeping prices subdued despite strong project fundamentals.

The Hedera-Specific Narrative Problem

Enterprise Blockchain Adoption Remains Theoretical

As time goes by, the idea that corporate use of blockchain would cause HBAR’s value to soar turns out to be quite the folly. For many years, the Hedera community promised that large companies would start using the platform for their transactions and payments.

Yet years later, actual usage is extremely limited compared to the excitement and hype surrounding the project. In fact, the number of accounts actively using the Hedera network each day dropped from about 10,100 to 6,700 in the middle of 2025, compared to the previous quarter.

This decline in network usage goes directly against the optimistic stories about increasing adoption and ecosystem development.

Corporate adoption happens on a much slower timeline than what the crypto market expects. Business deals require long periods of evaluation, legal review, purchasing approvals, and integration times that take many months or even years.

These slow processes do not generate the exciting cycles that move crypto prices. The market rewards fast momentum and quick adoption signals, not the patient, slow decisions of large corporations.

Centralization Concerns Persist

The structure of the Hedera Governing Council, supposed to advance the stability of the project, has more or less become a problem for the investors who are deeply focused on crypto principles. The control that large corporations have over the council causes centralization concerns, which goes against the basic cryptocurrency idea of decentralization (not controlled by a single group).

Investors who live by the crypto-native ideal look at HBAR with doubt precisely because it is rather “too corporate.” The same features that make Hedera attractive to traditional businesses (like its controlled governance, regulatory compliance, corporate structure, etc.) are the things that push away the individual investors and developers who tend to drive altcoin cycles.

Currently, HBAR exists in a challenging middle ground: it is neither decentralized enough to satisfy the purist crypto community nor fully mature to meet traditional finance expectations. Investors navigating this space often turn to platforms like Digitap, which integrate crypto and TradFi seamlessly, offering fiat to crypto on ramp services and tools to monitor and manage their crypto portfolios.

Tokenomics Create Continuous Selling Pressure

Hedera’s tokenomics include a significant portion of HBAR that remains undistributed, with scheduled token unlocks that periodically introduce new supply into the market, often creating additional selling pressure as these tokens are released. While the project has set aside over 50% of tokens for ecosystem development, these planned release schedules make sale times predictable.

Investors know that tokens reserved for developers and partners will eventually be sold on the public market. In anticipation of these releases, experienced traders often reduce their positions beforehand. This predictable selling pressure keeps HBAR’s price lower than it might otherwise be, even when the project is showing development progress.

The Technical Picture: Support Levels Breaking

Key Support Levels Deteriorating

The technical price chart for HBAR clearly shows the deep impact of the ongoing market slump, with the token trading significantly below its all-time high of $0.5692. The recent movement indicates the price is now testing an important, lower-level support area near $0.1500.

Breaking this critical psychological level would signal a major technical decline and suggest that institutional interest is proving insufficient to overcome the heavy selling.

For the price to successfully recover, HBAR needs to hold strongly above this current low area and challenge resistance levels established around $0.2000. Until the price can convincingly break above this level, the continued selling pressure suggests that recovery remains extremely difficult.

HBAR/BTC Ratio Weakness

Even without exact figures, HBAR’s performance when compared to Bitcoin is clearly underwhelming. When Bitcoin’s price stays flat and its dominance stabilizes, HBAR should, in theory, stabilize as well. Instead, HBAR continues to decline. This thus points to a specific weakness in the project that is not tied to the general market setting.

We may deduce that this underperformance is due to institutions and individual investors moving their holdings away from HBAR and into other avenues. The corporate investment that has flowed in is simply not strong enough to overcome the selling pressure coming from other groups.

Alternative Narrative Dominance

AI and DePIN Captured Market Attention

The market’s attention has shifted dramatically toward Artificial Intelligence (AI), decentralized physical infrastructure (DePIN), and real-world assets (RWA). These trends are generating huge price movements and widespread media attention. In contrast, enterprise blockchain adoption mostly produces corporate press releases that fail to move the crypto market.

The corporate adoption story is slow, boring, and, worst of all, not profitable for investors who engage in fast-paced trades. Decentralized finance (DeFi), AI agents, and DePIN projects offer more immediate excitement and a higher potential for returns. Capital is naturally flowing toward these avenues while HBAR’s price remains stagnant.

Crypto Market Seasonality

The last three months of the year (Q4) usually see market activity change as the year comes to an end. This period is typified by large investors adjusting their portfolios and people selling assets to reduce taxes (tax-loss harvesting).

HBAR, which lacks the exciting narrative momentum to attract new capital, falls a step behind other projects during these periods.

Storage and Portfolio Management During Volatility

Secure Position Management

Managing your HBAR investments through high price volatility requires careful asset management. Instead of keeping all your tokens on exchange platforms, you may use personal custody solutions.

During periods of uncertain prices, moving some of your holdings to your personal W wallet– where you can swap crypto, for instance – allows you to quickly respond to trading opportunities without taking on counterparty risk (the risk that the exchange itself might fail).

Exchange platforms are still suitable for active, fast trading, but the core amount of your HBAR holdings benefits from personal custody during long periods of price consolidation or volatility.

Portfolio Diversification Through Multiple Assets

It is advisable to have a comprehensive tracking system if you manage large HBAR positions across different altcoins and cryptocurrencies. This system helps facilitate crypto swapping across integrated protocols and simplifies how you rebalance your entire portfolio.

The ability to quickly identify which assets are performing poorly and then move that money into better-positioned altcoins, through efficient swapping tools, becomes much more critical when market leadership rotates between sectors.

Conclusion: A Long-Term Bet on Corporate Adoption

HBAR’s recent price drop reflects a combination of factors. Broad weakness in the cryptocurrency market affects all digital assets, while expectations for rapid corporate adoption have yet to materialize. Centralization concerns stemming from the corporate governing council also deter investors who value decentralization, and the token’s structure creates predictable selling pressure.

Moreover, market attention has shifted to other narratives, leaving HBAR without the hype needed for significant short-term gains. Its price will likely continue to mirror broader crypto trends until a major successful use case emerges from one of its corporate council members.

The project is far from a failure: development continues, and corporate interest remains strong. Tracking enterprise adoption is central to the HBAR thesis, and platforms like Digitap can help investors stay informed on ecosystem updates while efficiently monitoring and managing their HBAR positions.

FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)

Is Hedera a good long-term investment?

HBAR may appeal to investors who believe in the potential for widespread corporate adoption of enterprise blockchain solutions. It is best suited for those willing to hold through periods of price stagnation and market volatility. While the project shows steady development and ongoing interest from major corporations, short-term gains are limited, and the token remains sensitive to broader cryptocurrency market trends.

Is Hedera a blockchain?

No, Hedera is not a traditional blockchain. It uses a hashgraph consensus mechanism, which offers higher speed, scalability, and efficiency compared to standard blockchains. For most everyday users, however, this technical difference has little practical impact on usage.

Who is on the Hedera Governing Council?

The Hedera Governing Council is composed of major corporations, including Google, IBM, Boeing, and Deutsche Telekom. While the council helps drive corporate adoption and provides governance stability, its structure raises centralization concerns among crypto-native investors who prioritize decentralization.

Is Hedera decentralized?

Hedera presents itself as decentralized, but its governing council structure introduces significant centralization. Research shows that both HBAR ownership and transaction control are highly concentrated, which limits true decentralization compared with typical blockchain networks..

What is the main use case for Hedera?

Hedera is designed for enterprise applications such as payments, supply chain tracking, and other business processes. Its hashgraph technology allows fast, low-cost transactions, but large-scale adoption is still limited despite years of development and numerous partnerships.