When looking at the crypto sphere landscape, what problems are there? The challenges include scalability, energy consumption, and liquidity. With so much speculation and hype surrounding the space too, it’s easy to find yourself lost in the mix.
Bitcoin and Ethereum are the granddaddies of cryptocurrency. Cardano (ADA), a third-generation public blockchain, seeks to improve upon its predecessors’ problems.
As one of the top market capitalizations in crypto, Cardano is worth taking a look at. What’s under the hood of this popular cryptocurrency? Let’s dive in.
What Is Cardano?
Similar to Ethereum, Cardano is a platform where people can create smart contracts. The Cardano team is led by Charles Hoskinson, one of the co-founders of Ehtereum. They aim to create a balanced and sustainable ecosystem for cryptocurrency.
The Cardano project began in 2015 as a research project. By September 2017, the crypto was first released to the public supporting only ADA transactions under the “Byron” phase. By July 2020 we see the project enters the Shelley phase, allowing Cardano holders to take advantage of staking the crypto.
On the horizon in August 2021 for the third stage is Goguen. This will add support for smart contracts as well as provide a native token issuance.
What Makes Cardano Special?
It’s no denying that the Proof-of-Work (Pow) mechanism that both Bitcoin and Ethereum use uses a lot of electricity. Proof-of-Stake (PoS) improves upon this and Cardano takes this a step further with its Ouroboros algorithm.
In a nutshell, the algorithm chooses who creates and validates the next blocks. This is a more secure blockchain system with a smaller carbon footprint to boot.
The Cardano team takes a peer-reviewed approach, inspired by science. New features are introduced, developed, and reviewed. Once agreed upon, it is only then that they are integrated.
Written in Haskell, Cardano joins the ranks of Bank of America and AT&T. IOHK is the company behind Cardano and has published many academic papers explaining the cryptocurrency’s tech.
To battle counterfeit sneakers, IOHK has teamed up with New Balance to provide authenticity via the blockchain.
Production, Buying, and Selling
How is ADA produced? Unlike Bitcoin which uses mining, Cardano uses validators. These validators are decided upon how much ADA they currently hold.
After being selected, the validator places a bet to be able to verify transactions. A validator will receive an ADA reward once the blockchain verifies the validator’s block.
Other than validating, how else can you get your hands on the Cardano crypto? Click here to find the current Cardano price. After that, continue to buy, sell, and trade Cardano.
To the Moon
What’s on the roadmap for Cardano? For starters, it’s smart contracts and dApps. Cardano says that they are doing things people have always wanted to in crypto, build a financial operating system.
We encourage you to keep up to date with the crypto market at large. To do so, head on over to our blog. You don’t want to miss out on this golden opportunity, do you?
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