What is Cardano

Of course, the crypto market is very different from when Cardano began development. Back then, it was basically only competing against Ethereum. In 2021, Cardano has to go against many other smart contract platforms such as Polkadot, Tron, Binance Smart Chain, etc. The landscape is fundamentally different.

In this article, we’ll go about some of the history of Cardano. We’ll discuss the development of the platform and all the recent upgrades. Finally, end with some price analysis and projections for the crypto ADA.

What is Cardano?

Cardano is a blockchain platform that started development in 2015. It was created by Charles Hoskinson, one of the original founders of Ethereum and Bitshares. From the start, it was meant to follow a more academic and systematic development path than other blockchain projects. It would publish papers for every technology it produced and peer review them by academics.

This methodical approach would result in many delays. The project was first meant to be fully operational in 2017, but in 2021 there are still some features in development. On the other hand, each piece of the Cardano blockchain has been thoroughly researched and verified. This is not true for most projects out there.

First, Cardano is a Proof of Stake blockchain. Their consensus algorithm is called Oroborus, and in it, the network relies on validators instead of miners to secure and produce blocks. The blockchain uses Stake Pool Operators that attract ADA deposits and use them to generate blocks and improve the security.

The staking on Cardano is so popular that 70% of all the ADA in circulation is actually staked in pools at the moment. The result is that Cardano is one of the most popular and secured PoS networks in the blockchain.

The project began with a private sale of the ADA cryptocurrency that started in 2016 and lasted for a whole year. 45,000,000,000 ADA coins were sold at a price of 0.0024 cents for accredited investors registered in Japan. The ICO was successful, and IOHK managed to raise 62,240,000 US dollars to begin the development of the project.

It has been a long road to get to this point. Now, let us review the development road map of Cardano.

The different eras of Cardano

The development of Cardano has been broken into different eras. Each has a different milestone, and all serve as a foundation for the next one. These are:

Byron

Named after the British poet George Gordon Byron, this era marked the start of the project. After the successful ICO, the Byron era officially started in September of 2017. The first important accomplishment of this era was the creation of the ADA crypto coin.

To be able to mint and distribute ADA, Cardano began as a federated blockchain. This means that it was actually controlled by IOHK in a centralized network that did not have any stake pools yet.

Later at the end of 2019, the Byron test network began. It allowed users to launch stake pools and delegate their ADA for rewards. However, it was not a fully decentralized network yet.

Shelly

After the Byron Testnet closed and full decentralization of the mainnet began, we entered the Shelly era and the current one. Named after another British poet Percy Bysshe Shelley this era is about decentralization. It started with stake pools and ADA delegation, now migrating to the main Cardano network, which ended the federated system of before.

Since Shelly began, Cardano is fully validated and secured by its PoS algorithm. Anyone is able to launch a stake pool for Cardano, and any person holding ADA can delegate it to a pool and earn rewards from day one.

Additionally, Shelly saw the introduction of native tokens to Cardano. Now the network not only supports ADA as the only cryptocurrency, but it can host tokens created by developers, both fungible and non-fungible tokens (NFTs). It has made the Cardano blockchain a multi-asset one.

Goguen

Named after an American computer scientist Joseph Amadee Goguen, this era is about introducing smart contracts to Cardano. The Goguen era will introduce smart contract capabilities to the Cardano blockchain. There are currently three computer languages in development for this purpose:

Plutus core the main development language for smart contracts in Cardano. It will be used much in the same way Solidity works in Ethereum. The difference is that Plutus is a functional programming language based on Haskell. There are already early tools ready for this language that developers can use now.Marlowe is a graphic language that allows users the ability to create smart contracts using a graphical interface. There is no need to code, and all of the design is done by using drag and drop tools from the platform. There is already a platform in a Test network that allows people the ability to use the tools.Glow is another computer language that is supported and can be used to develop smart contracts and Dapps on the Cardano blockchain. Unlike Plutus, Glow is not being developed by the Cardano team. It is the project of a 3rd party team called Mukn, and it will compete with Plutus among Cardano developers.

Goguen is expected to launch by mid-2021. There are no delays in the development of any of the pieces of Goguen, so if all things continue as they have, Cardano should have full smart contracts by July of this year.

Basho

The next era is named after the Japanese poet Matsuo Bashō. It will focus on scalability, and it will introduce sharding and parallel processing to the Cardano network. We will see the deployment of side chains for the Cardano blockchain. The name of this technology is Hydra, after the Greek mythological creature.

The update is expected to happen by mid-2022. After the introduction of smart contracts in Goguen, a lot of testing will happen. Before moving to the next era, the Cardano developers will need to make sure all of the network’s updates are working.

Voltaire

Named after the French philosopher François-Marie Arouet alias Voltaire. It will focus on governance and will finally give the entire Cardano blockchain to its users. After Voltaire, any update or change people want to make to the network will only be possible by going through a voting process.

Finally, IOHK and all associated institutions would no longer be in control of Cardano. The development of the blockchain will be in charge of all the people using Cardano and 3rd party teams funded by the community to make changes. Of course, that raises the question of who is in charge of Cardano now.

The Cardano development team

Right now, Cardano has three entities supporting the project. First Input Output Hong Kong, second the Cardano Foundation, and third EMURGO. Let us see what each of these does:

Input Output Hong Kong (IOHK)

IOHK is the original developing team behind Cardano, and it has Charles Hoskinson as its CEO. They are in charge of developing all of the core functionalities of the project like the computer language Plutus, the consensus algorithm Oroborus, the desktop waller Daedalus, the sharding Hydra, and basically anything important to Cardano is being worked by IOHK.

They are what could be considered the core developers of Cardano. Until the Voltaire era is implemented, IOHK is in charge of improving the project and delivering the updates. It is one of the largest developing teams in blockchain, and it has published the most peer-reviewed papers in the blockchain space.

The Cardano Foundation

The Cardano Foundation is a non-profit organization based in Switzerland. It is in charge and holds all of the rights to the Cardano name and brand. Its main goal is to expand the use of the Cardano blockchain by promoting it and providing educational services. It works closely with IOHK in all that relates to branding and marketing.

EMURGO

EMURGO is the enterprise side of the Cardano network. Its main focus is to expand the use of Cardano in the business world. It works with companies to design and adapt their practices using blockchain technology. It also offers blockchain education and accreditation to a global audience.

Finally, EMURGO is also very active in developing products related to the Cardano blockchain. They are the creators of the Yoroi light wallet, which works as a browser extension or mobile wallet for ADA. The wallet also supports the Ergo crypto and any token launched on Cardano or Ergo blockchains.

How to make ADAs without trading?

By now, you must be very interested in the future of the ADA price and if it is a good investment. We will talk about these questions later in the article. But first, there are several ways to multiply your ADA passively or even gain ADA by participating in the Cardano world. Let us look at these possibilities:

Staking ADA

As said before, Cardano is a PoSj blockchain. In it, people are able to delegate their ADA to pool operators and earn rewards. The two ways to stake are by using the Daedalus desktop wallet or the Yoroi light wallet. It can be done in one click using both options.

An important thing to note is the pool saturation. If more than 60 million ADA is delegated to a pool, then the pool is saturated. This means rewards for it are cut to encourage people to delegate to as many pools as possible.

Becoming a pool operator

Following from our previous example, we have starting a stake pool. Pool operators act like miners in a PoS blockchain. They work by using the ADA delegated to them to be part of a lottery run by the network. The more ADA a pool has, the greater the chances it will be selected to produce a block. Pool operators are rewarded with ADA for providing this service to the network.

Project Catalyst

Finally, Project Catalyst is an internet fund where anyone can submit and review proposals to improve Cardano. All participants are rewarded with ADA for being part of the process. It is the best way to make ADA with no cost other than time.

ADA price Analysis

ADA is the best-performing crypto coin in 2021. It rose 130% since the start of the year and broke its all-time-high on February 27th at $1.48 from the previous record of $1.31. It has been a great ride if you had ADA before now.

The crypto market is experiencing a correction at the moment. The price of ADA can go as low as 0.8 or 0.76 by the end of March and remain below a dollar during April. It will begin to recover during May, as the Goguen era begins, but it is expected to go down for the short-term.

So, if you are just learning about ADA, it is perhaps best to wait for the market’s bottom. Prices all across the crypto market are in red, as the economy consolidates the gains made during the end of 2020 and the start of 2021.

Conclusion

Cardano is now the 3rd biggest blockchain by market cap. It is supported by the best and most professional team in all of the crypto economy. There is no doubt that it will go places in the future. Anyone active in crypto should hold ADA as part of their investment strategy. Either by buying it or with the other strategies introduced before.

For more on crypto investing, read Top 10 Defi Tokens According to their Market Cap in 2021. For a comprehensive list of the best tokens in the crypto economy and their investment potential. The time is now to enter the crypto economy.

What was the original price of ADA?0.0024 (correct answer)0.240.03In which year Cardano started?20162015 (correct answer)2013Charles Hoskinson is CEO of which of these companies?EMURGOThe Cardano FoundationIOHK (correct answer)