South Korean Electronics Giant LG Joins Hedera Hashgraph Council

Electronics company LG joined Hedera Hashgraph’s Governing Council on Wednesday, becoming its 14th member.

The addition edges Hedera toward its council’s long-term goal: tap 39 hands-on node runners to govern its enterprise-grade public ledger, Hashgraph. Hashgraph is an alternative to blockchain platforms with buy-in from Google, IBM, Boeing and University College London among others. 

LG, a South Korean home appliance manufacturer, is the first such business and only the second based in Asia, after the Japan-based Nomura, to join.

Those attributes add a fresh perspective Hedera’s telecom-heavy and Asia-light council, said Hedera CEO Mance Harmon. He said members “vote on just about every part of the business” of the limited liability corporation.

“For that to be done well, we want to make sure that we have that really broad representation, not just across verticals but also by geography,” Harmon said. “LG is bringing diversity and further decentralization to the council in the way that we haven’t had before — that’s part of the excitement here.”

LG did not respond to a request for comment by press time.

In 2017, the electronics manufacturer trialed R3 Corda for financial transactions. LG also participated in a 2019 cobalt-tracing pilot via Hyperledger Fabric.

Harmon claims that the Hashgraph beta can handle 10,000 transactions per second – “way faster” than blockchain-based public ledgers running ethereum and bitcoin. It follows a proof-of stake model in which users pay via tokens for network services.