The Python SDK for the Hedera Agent Kit is now available, bringing AI-native developers an easy way to build agents that interact directly with Hedera. Python developers can utilize familiar frameworks like LangChain to create agents that manage accounts, tokens, smart contracts, and on-chain messaging, enabling crypto payments and microtransactions. With a modular plugin architecture and support for multiple AI providers, the SDK lowers the barrier to building AI-based blockchain applications on Hedera.

Forking the Hedera network allows you to run smart contracts locally while interacting with real network state. It’s a powerful way to debug and iterate faster, without repeatedly deploying to testnet or mainnet.

• Hardhat (Part 1): Fork Hedera with a basic ERC-20 contract

• Hardhat (Part 2): Advanced HTS contract on a forked network

• Foundry: Fork Hedera with a basic ERC-20 using Foundry

This HIP introduces high-volume throttles on the Hiero, allowing developers to create entities (like accounts or tokens) at much higher rates during busy periods. Developers can opt in with a simple transaction flag and pay a variable fee that increases with network usage, while standard throttles and fixed pricing remain unchanged for everyone else. The two systems run in parallel, ensuring regular users are unaffected. Pricing is predictable, capped, and governed by the network, with fairness preserved through normal transaction ordering.

HIP-1340 EOA Code Delegation brings Ethereum’s Pectra-era account model to Hedera. It allows regular accounts (EOAs) to delegate execution to smart contract code, enabling more powerful, flexible account behavior while staying compatible with Ethereum tools and wallets. Developers can opt in to using either Ethereum-style transactions or native Hedera transactions, with no changes required to existing apps. Overall, this unlocks new design patterns while maintaining user control, fairness, and network security.

HIP-1261 proposes a clear, predictable fee model for Hedera: every transaction is “base fee + extras” (bytes, signatures, keys, gas, etc.), split into node, network, and service components. Fees are defined once in a deterministic JSON schedule (in USD tinycents) that tools and mirror nodes can reproduce exactly. The HIP standardizes how unreadable, invalid, unhandled, and bad transactions are charged, and supports congestion pricing.

HIP-1195 introduces hooks, which are programmable extension points on the Hiero network that enable users to attach custom logic (written as EVM contracts or lambdas) to native entities, such as accounts or tokens. As a first use case, it enables allowance hooks on accounts: when a transfer is attempted, the hook executes with context and can dynamically approve or reject the transfer.