The Hedera hashgraph platform provides a new form of distributed consensus; a way for people who don't know or trust each other to securely collaborate and transact online without the need for a trusted intermediary. The platform is lightning fast, fair, and secure and, unlike some blockchain-based platforms, doesn’t require compute-heavy proof-of-work. Hedera enables and empowers developers to build an entirely new class of decentralized applications that were never before possible.