What is Cardano?

Cardano is a cryptocurrency project that creates a platform for smart contracts and decentralized applications with a focus on advanced functionality and scalability. Cardano's native blockchain resource is called ADA, and can also be used for simple transfers of value, just like any other cryptocurrency. The maximum supply of ADA is set at 45 billion coins.

Cardano's key features:

✔ Launched in 2017 after a $62.2 million ICO
✔ Blockchain platform for smart contracts and decentralized applications
✔ Based on proof-of-stake consensus mechanism
✔ IOHK, Cardano Foundation and Emurgo are the main organizations in the Cardano ecosystem

To fund development, the Cardano project raised $62.2 million in an initial coin offering (ICO) that closed in January 2017.

One of the leading figures behind Cardano is Charles Hoskinson, who was one of the original founders of the Ethereum project. However, Hoskinson left Ethereum because he did not share the team's vision for the future direction of the project.

Cardano is known in the cryptocurrency community as an ambitious project with a rigorous approach to development - for example, the Ouroboros proof-of-stake consensus protocol has undergone academic review.

The Cardano project has three main arms that perform different functions in the ecosystem - IOHK, Cardano Foundation and Emurgo. The IOHK handles the technical development of the Cardano protocol, the Cardano Foundation promotes the adoption of Cardano, while Emurgo focuses primarily on commercial applications of Cardano technology.

For their smart contracts Cardano uses a programming language called Plutus. According to the project, Plutus provides significant security advantages over other programming languages used for smart contracts.

What is Cardano?

Cardano is a decentralized platform blockchain focused on sustainability, scalability and transparency, which plans to overcome the problems of legacy blockchain projects. Cardano uses a Proof-of-Stake consensus model, which brings significant performance advantages over the Proof-of-Work. Cardano proponents often refer to Cardano as a third-generation blockchain platform, with Bitcoin being the first and Ethereum the second generation.

After leaving the project Ethereum, mathematician Charles Hoskinson co-founded IOHK with plans to develop a new cryptocurrency. The platform itself was named after 16th-century Italian polymath Gerolamo Cardano, while the platform's native currency ADA was named after 19th-century English computer science pioneer Ada Lovelace.

The Cardano project began development in 2015, and the ADA was first released in October 2017 with a market capitalization of $600 million. By the end of the year, however, the market capitalization had grown to as much as $10 billion. Cardano seeks to differentiate itself from many other blockchain projects by implementing the principles of academic peer review into its development process.

How does Cardano work?

Unlike Bitcoin, which requires a large infrastructure to maintain the network, Cardano operates on a much smaller scale. Resource-intensive computing is not needed because the network uses a Proof-of-Stake protocol to manage consensus.

The Cardano project is currently in the process of implementing a smart contract feature that will allow developers to create decentralized applications on Cardano, as well as create custom tokens on the network. Once this is implemented, Cardano will have the same kind of general functionality as other smart contract-enabled blockchains such as Ethereum and Eos.

What is ADA staking?

Instead of mining currency, users have the option of "staking" their coins. This makes the coins temporarily unavailable, but allows the user to receive additional coins, depending on the amount staked.

In addition, as the user has become part of the network, he or she has the opportunity to take part in voting on proposals for development and future implementations. This opens the development to new and unbiased ideas, which has proven to be extremely important for Cardano.

How is the Cardano used?

The network is designed to serve as a foundation for decentralized applications, with openness and transparency as distinguishing features. As the developers stated, "Cardano was designed to be the platform of choice for large, critical DApps, which will form the basis of the economy of the future."

Cardano use cases are currently being considered in education, agriculture, healthcare and many other industries, with plans for further expansion.

Cardano also has a rigorous academic review system that is backed by engineers and academic experts in many fields, including blockchain and cryptography.

Why are ADA Cardano coins valuable?

ADA derives its value from supply and demand, just like all other cryptocurrencies. However, one feature of the ADA that makes the coin attractive to some investors is that it can be staked, earning holders some passive income.

Cardano is one of the most widely followed blockchain projects, which is reflected in ADA's high position among all cryptocurrencies in terms of market capitalization.

How do you acquire an ADA?

ADA coins can be purchased on many different cryptocurrency exchanges. Most high-quality exchanges offer an ADA/BTC trading pair, while some even list ADA directly against fiat currencies.

Alternatively, staking ADA coins can generate additional profit. Instead of mining, users freeze a certain amount of ADA coins and receive a percentage as profit, quite similar to saving money in the bank.

Is Cardano a good investment?

The cryptocurrency market is generally considered highly volatile, which makes cryptocurrencies a high-risk investment. Large investments are not recommended without proper education and advanced market analysis, as they can easily lead to significant losses.

Nevertheless, Cardano is one of the leading projects in the cryptocurrency and blockchain space, and ADA can certainly have its place in a cryptocurrency investor's portfolio, depending on the specific strategy.

How much should I invest in Cardano?

For new investors, it is recommended to start with smaller stakes. This is because the cryptocurrency market is a new environment with its own rules and trends. It may take some time to learn how to operate properly in these conditions, and some losses are bound to happen.

This can have a cascading effect, as traders often try to make quick trades to cover a loss, leading to even bigger losses, so caution is advised. Never invest more than you are prepared to lose.

How can I withdraw funds from the ADA?

Many leading cryptocurrency exchanges are trading at ADA, making cashing out a Cardano is a fairly simple process. If an exchange doesn't directly exchange ADA for fiat currency, you may want to consider converting ADA to BTC and then selling BTC for USD, EUR or a suitable local currency.

Is Cardano safe?

Cardano was designed with security as one of its core principles, with the Ouroboros Proof of Stake protocol used to secure the network. The developers call it "ecologically sustainable, verifiably secure," as it seeks to improve the security of Bitcoin's Proof-of-Work protocol. It also requires a chunk of Bitcoin's power to maintain.

Are Cardano coins legal?

Depending on the country, the use of cryptocurrencies can range from severely restricted to completely open. You can check the legality of cryptocurrencies by country or territory here.

How are the new ADA Cardano coins created?

New ADA coins are being unlocked to provide rewards for users. This will continue until the maximum ADA resource of 45 billion coins is unlocked.

However, much of the ADA stock had already been unlocked when the game was launched. The initial sale of ADA coins took place between 2015 and 2017 in five public sales. About 5.2 billion ADA coins were retained by developers, while the rest were distributed to buyers in the Cardano ICO.

Is ADA staking a good investment?

The common profit from staking is about 5% per year, which is not unusual. This profit can be further altered, depending on various factors, such as the performance of the rate pool, future changes in the network, the amount staked, the growth of popularity Cardano and many others.

One of the main differences with mining is that using equipment and spending additional energy is not necessary to be part of a rate pool. The pool manager is required to have certain equipment, but these requirements are still insignificant compared to mining.

How many ADA coins remain in circulation?

Currently, the ADA has a circulating supply of 31.46B ADA coins, while the maximum ADA supply is 45 billion.

What makes Cardano unique?

The philosophy behind the Cardano project is extremely interesting. The developers maintain a very open mindset, allowing new ideas to be questioned and challenged. Before any update is released, it must go through a long process of academic research. This makes it possible to anticipate future problems and better prepare for them, which further helps create a safe and reliable product.

Besides, Cardano is one of the most popular Proof-of-Stake cryptocurrencies available. Ethereum has begun the process of slowly transitioning to this protocol, but it will be done over a longer period of time.

Is my information private when using Cardano?

The Cardano blockchain is not secured or encrypted, which means that all transaction information is publicly available. Having this information is useless to most people, but with the right set of tools and knowledge, getting more information by analyzing portfolios and transactions is certainly possible.

Are Cardano's transaction fees high?

At the moment, all fees follow the formula fee = a + b x size, where a and b are constants. These are subject to change, and the current amounts are a=0.155381 ADA, and b=0.000043946 ADA/byte. A typical transaction is about 200 bytes, which brings the fee to about 0.164 ADA.