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I. What is Cardano?
Cardano is a blockchain-based network that serves as the foundation for the Cardano cryptocurrency and other applications. The Cardano network, in addition to the Cardano token, which trades under the symbol ADA, is helpful for smart contracts and other distributed applications.
Cardano was created in 2015 with the goal of tackling the scaling, interoperability, and sustainability difficulties that existing blockchain networks face. In 2017, the initial version of the network and its currency, ADA, were released.
II. History of Cardano
Cardano blockchain platform development began in 2015, following a high-profile Initial Coin Offering (ICO). Cardano was established by Charles Hoskinson, a co-founder of Ethereum who left the project to focus on Cardano in order to provide a more comprehensive network for decentralized applications. According to Hoskinson, he considered early Ethereum iterations as a “proof of concept” and set about improving on its flaws with Cardano. The Cardano mainnet was formally launched in 2017 after two years of research and development, setting off a five-phase, multi-year development process.
Cardano, like Ethereum, is a decentralized network designed for programmable assets and decentralized applications (dApps). Cardano, on the other hand, was designed expressly to improve on Ethereum’s scalability, security, and cost, as well as to debut with a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) network from the start. Cardano’s PoS blockchain employs its native ADA token as the cryptocurrency. Cardano has also aimed to solve a number of challenges faced by Ethereum, like the occurrence of controversial hard forks and the existence of barriers to entry due to the exclusivity of Ethereum’s bespoke programming language Solidity.
Cardano is well-known for its research-driven approach. The group has produced a number of peer-reviewed publications and collaborated with a number of universities to further blockchain research and teaching. Cardano is backed by three distinct organizations: the non-profit Cardano Foundation, its commercial arm Emurgo, and the blockchain software development business Input-Output Global (IOG). All three groups collaborate to move Cardano along its development path.
III. Striking Features of Cardano (ADA)
Cardano’s platform supports the following features:
- Currency: With a cryptocurrency wallet, you can send and receive Cardano or transfer it in exchange for goods and services.
- Smart contracts: Cardano enables smart contracts, which are contracts that automatically self-execute when the contract’s conditions are fulfilled.
- Decentralized finance: Cardano enables people to skip the middleman, such as banks and other financial institutions, to transact directly and on a permissionless basis with other individuals or entities.
- Digital apps: As part of decentralized finance, Cardano can enable lending, trading, asset management, insurance, and other typical financial services.
As a result, it’s more appropriate to think about Cardano as a token that enables numerous financial services rather than just cash, though that is one of its roles as well.
IV. Core Technology of Cardano (ADA)
The Cardano ecosystem is designed as a third-generation blockchain platform with two layers — a settlement layer (CSL) and a computation layer (CCL) — that serve as the foundation of every transaction.
1. Cardano Settlement Layer (CSL)
The inventors of Cardano aimed to create a system that isolates the value of a transaction from its computational data.
The Cardano Settlement Layer is intended to govern the exchange of value (or cash) between the sender and recipient. To put it another way, the settlement layer serves as the routeing layer for all control layers and systems.
Plutus and Marlowe are two specific scripting languages used by the CSL to move values and improve support for the overlay network protocol.
2. Cardano Computation Layer (CCL)
The Cardano Computation Layer enables Cardano to imitate the Rootstock smart contract platform from the Bitcoin (BTC) ecosystem (RSK blockchain). The rationale for CCL’s installation is its capacity to assist scale customized protocols over time. As technology progresses, this entails adding hardware security modules (HSM) to the current protocol stack.
The Cardano blockchain’s two layers enable the ecosystem to proactively apply modifications to promote quicker and more secure transactions while removing any user metadata that is extraneous to the process.
V. What is ADA?
1. Detailed Information about ADA
The Cardano blockchain’s in-house cryptocurrency, ADA, lies on the Cardano Settlement Layer.
ADA, like other prominent cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH), may be traded for fiat currencies such as the US dollar and held in cryptocurrency wallets. Third-party wallet services, in addition to Cardano’s native wallet options like Daedalus and Yoroi, provide ADA storage and transfers.
ADA is designed to be a secure value exchange that works on Ouroboros, a collection of proof-of-stake blockchain consensus algorithms. Furthermore, the Cardano blockchain may support additional cryptocurrencies, nonfungible tokens, smart contracts, and decentralized applications (DApps).
2. ADA Allocation
The ADA token has a max supply of 45,000,000,000 ADA and it is distributed to:
- ICO: 57.6%
- Team: 11.5%
- Staking Rewards: 30.9%
3. ADA Token Metrics
- Ticker: ADA
- Blockchain: Cardano
- Consensus: Proof of Stake (PoS)
- Algorithm: Ouroboros
- Token Type: Coin
- Block time: 20 seconds
- Smallest unit: 1 Lovelace = 10^-6 ADA
- Max Supply: 45,000,000,000 ADA
- Circulating Supply: 32,143,026,588 ADA
4. Use Cases of ADA
- Staking
When an epoch ends and a block is finished, an amount of ADA tokens is sent to the ADA delegators in certain ADA pools. ADA holders may also create their own stake pools and ask others to stake their tokens to share the benefits.
- Transaction Fee
ADA tokens are used to pay transaction fees using the following formula:
Tx Fee = a * size(Tx) + b, where:
- Parameter a is the transaction parameter that equals 0,0000393946 ADA/byte, which means the larger the transaction, the higher the fee is.
- Parameter b is the Distributed-Denial-of-Service (DDoS) prevention parameter that equals 0.155381 ADA.
- Size(Tx) is the transaction size in bytes.
- Project Catalyst Voting
To be more specific, Project Catalyst is an incentive program for new initiatives in need of funding as well as support from the Cardano community. It provides on-chain governance for the community to determine whether or not to finance startup ideas.
On the Project Catalyst Ideascale platform, ADA token holders may propose ideas and discuss findings. Staking ADA tokens is also necessary to vote on initiatives offered on Catalyst.
VI. How to earn & own ADA?
You may acquire ADA for the Cardano network from the most prominent cryptocurrency exchanges because it is one of the most popular cryptocurrencies. Check out our evaluation and comparison of the best crypto exchanges to discover a suitable fit.
You may obtain ADA by purchasing tokens on CEXs like Binance, Huobi, FTX, Coinbase, and others.
VII. Which Crypto Wallets are suitable for ADA?
Here is the list of popular and best Cardano (ADA) wallets:
- Binance
- Ledger Nano
- Trezor
- FTX
- Cex.io
- Kraken
- Gemini
- Coinsmart
VIII. ADA Recent Developments
Cardano had a banner year in 2021. This momentum may be seen by bulls reaching greater than 691 percent in a single year. According to CoinMarketCap statistics, it outperformed Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) by 75% and 453%, respectively.
Cardano (ADA) began 2021 with a market capitalization of $5.5 billion and a $0.18 value per ADA. The year 2021 finished with a market valuation of $49 billion and an ADA token value of $1.46.
In early September 2021, ADA temporarily achieved all-time high of $3.03 and a market value of $97.52 billion.
IX. Teams, Funds & Partners of Cardano (ADA)
1. Team
2. Investment Funds
Cardano Foundation has raised a total of $62.2M in funding over 4 rounds. Their latest funding was raised on Jan 1, 2018, from an Initial Coin Offering round.
3. Partners
X. Where is Cardano (ADA) information to be updated?
Currently, Crypto users can fully consult, research, and analyze information about Cardano (ADA) through famous media newspapers such as Nasdaq, Bloomberg, Forbes, AP News, Yahoo!Finance, CoinTelegraph, Coindesk, Coinbase, Kraken…
These media are constantly updated with useful information, new activities, outstanding events of Cardano, and all the topics surrounding it. Accordingly, Meta Lion Ventures continuously updates the topic of outstanding projects in Blockchain and hot events organized between Meta Lion & partners.
XI. FAQs about Cardano (ADA)
- How Does Cardano Function?
There must be a means to validate transactions on a blockchain network to guarantee that users do not spend the same tokens again. Because of decentralization, there is no central authority, such as a bank, to undertake the task.
Bitcoin and Ethereum 1.0 miners use computers to solve complicated mathematical equations and upload new blocks of data to the blockchain, collecting cryptocurrency in return for their efforts. This takes a long time and consumes a lot of power.
Cardano employs staking, a mechanism in which network members deposit certain quantities of cryptocurrency in order to acquire the ability to participate in the blockchain’s functioning.
- How is ADA created?
Cardano’s ADA currency is not mined in the same way that Bitcoin is. Instead of miners, the network selects validators based on how much ADA cash they presently own.
If they are chosen to validate the transactions on the block, they wager on their ability to verify all of the transactions. If the blockchain validates the validator’s block, they win the bet and receive a payment in ADA.
- What can Crypto users do with Cardano?
While you may purchase and sell ADA like any other cryptocurrency and use it to pay for blockchain transactions, it isn’t considered a currency like Bitcoin, which can be used to buy goods and services.
Users on the Cardano platform must purchase ADA in order to conduct transactions, participate in governance, become slot leaders, and receive a percentage of transaction fees.
- Is Cardano (ADA) a good investment?
Meta Lion Ventures provides various remarkable and insightful insights that allow you to explore every area. This is not financial advice, and for a thorough knowledge of Cardano, you should conduct your own research.
- In comparison to other blockchain networks, over 70% of the total current circulating ADA tokens are staked for network validation in ADA pools, which is a very impressive percentage. For example, Ethereum has been a Cardano competitor from its inception.
- Despite the fact that it is still under development, Cardano has tremendous finances and the worldwide community’s confidence. Cardano has a long way to go before it can deploy the technology.
- Cardano’s aim extends beyond DeFi applications. It intends to use DeFi to build and mainstream Real Finance. Furthermore, the number of Cardano projects is fast growing since there is so much space to explore Cardano. As a result, it is an excellent alternative platform for new startup ventures.
- In truth, Cardano has missed and postponed several deadlines. They spent years proving the feasibility of their whitepaper and are now focused on development. Many people were dissatisfied and lost patience with Cardano over time.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Cardano has enormous potential in terms of technology and firm infrastructure when compared to other existing blockchains. The blockchain initiative is supported by academically peer-reviewed proofs and large businesses, making it fit for eventual mainstream adoption.
Following the Cardano roadmap, they vow to accelerate the process and complete the trip to become entirely decentralized in the near future. The last phase is expected to be completed in 2025, after which the Cardano community will be fully responsible for governance.
That’s all there is to know about Cardano and its ADA cryptocurrency. I hope you found this information beneficial in better understanding the future possibilities of Cardano.
