What is Cardano
First of all, the project is named after the 16th century mathematician and polymath, Girolamo Cardano. At its core, Cardano is a smart contract platform – much like Ethereum. This decentralized blockchain-based system is primarily powered by the ADA coin. It is a cryptocurrency that underpins the entire Cardano platform.
Although some may use the terms “Cardano” and “ADA” interchangeably, it is important to know that there is a distinction. While Cardano refers to the entire platform and ecosystem, ADA is simply a cryptocurrency.
However, ADA is integrated into Cardano's settlement layer, making it an essential part of the platform. Anecdotally, ADA is named after Ada Lovelas, a 19th-century mathematician, daughter of Lord Byron, and often called the first computer programmer.
Essentially, Cardano is an ambitious blockchain project founded by Charles Hoskinson, one of the co-founders of Ethereum.
Cardano was built to solve Ethereum's problems
Simply put, Cardano is designed to address and fix some of Ethereum's shortcomings. Although the crypto community is far from agreed on whether Cardano's way is the most efficient, this is the main purpose of the platform.
In fact, Cardano intends to leapfrog not only Ethereum, but the entirety of the legacy cryptocurrency and blockchain sector. At the same time, Ethereum is often referred to as a “second generation” smart contract platform.
While Vitalik Buterin's blockchain demonstrates some of the remarkable potential associated with blockchain technology, it still has some major hurdles to overcome. They are essentially about scalability, interoperability and resilience.
To solve these existing, endogenous problems associated with second generation smart contract platforms, Cardano is designed to be a “third generation” protocol.
Cardano is home to the Ada cryptocurrency used to send and receive digital funds. This digital money represents the future of money by enabling fast, direct transfers that are guaranteed to be secure through the use of cryptography.
Cardano is more than a cryptocurrency – it is a technology platform that will be able to run financial applications currently used every day by people, organizations and governments around the world. The platform is built in layers, giving the system the flexibility to be more easily maintained and enabling updates via soft forks. Cardano will also run decentralized applications or dApp services that are not controlled by any one party but instead run on the blockchain.
It is the first blockchain project developed from a scientific philosophy and the only one designed and built by a global team of leading scientists and engineers. It is essential that the technology is secure, flexible and scalable for use by millions of users. Consequently, considerable thought and care by some of the leading experts in their fields has been devoted to the project.
A key innovation of Cardano is that it will balance the needs of users with those of regulators, thus combining privacy with regulation. Cardano's vision is that its new style of regulated computing will bring greater financial inclusion by providing open access for all to fair financial services.
Origin of Cardano
While Ethereum is doing an admirable job as a smart contract platform, according to Hoskinson, this generation of blockchain needs evolution. There are three organizations working full-time to develop and maintain Cardano.
Tova sa:
• Cardano Foundation.
• IOHK.
• Emurgo.
Cardano's philosophy
The Cardano team wants to adhere to a set of principles and philosophies. They did not share a proper roadmap or white paper. Instead, they focused on "a collection of design principles, engineering best practices, and avenues of inquiry."
Here are these principles:
- Segregation of accounting and calculation of different layers.
- Implementing the core components in highly modular functional code
- Small groups of scientists and developers competing with their research
- Extensive use of interdisciplinary teams, including early use of InfoSec experts
- Rapid iteration between white papers, implementation, and new research needed to correct issues discovered during review
- Creating the ability to update already released systems without disrupting the network
- Development of a decentralized funding mechanism for future work
- A long-term view on improving the design of cryptocurrencies so that they can run on mobile devices with a sensible and secure user experience
- Bringing stakeholders closer to the operations and maintenance of their cryptocurrency
- Recognizing the need to account for multiple assets in the same ledger
- Limiting transactions to include optional metadata to better align with legacy systems needs
- Learning from nearly 1000 altcoins by adopting features that make sense
- Establish a standard process inspired by the Internet Engineering Task Force using a dedicated framework to shape the final protocol design
- A study of the social elements of trade
- Finding a healthy middle ground for regulators to interact with commerce without compromising some core principles inherited from Bitcoin.
How do I buy Cardano?
1. Choose a crypto exchange
There are numerous cryptocurrency exchanges and exchanges that range from easy-to-use systems to complex dashboards for advanced traders.
Since Cardano is so popular, you will be able to purchase the token on most cryptocurrency exchanges, but it is advisable to stick to a few of the more popular exchanges such as Binance, Kraken, Coinbase, etc. Different platforms come with different fees, security measures, and may include other features, so it's a good idea to do your research before signing up.
2. Create an account and verify it
Get started with account registration, which is completely free on the aforementioned platforms. For additional security, 2FA - two-factor authentication - is also activated. That way, you and your device are the only ones who can give access to the account.
It then goes through a KYC process, which involves providing personal information – ID card / passport / driving license details, proof of address (eg bank statement or utility bill).
After completing these steps, you are ready to buy, sell and trade Cardano (ADA) as well as take advantage of various services such as staking.
3. Fund your account
Once your account is registered and verified, you need to deposit funds into the account in order to start using the platform's buying and trading services.
The main deposit options are:
- Credit/debit card
- Bank deposit
- Peer-to-peer (P2P)
Where to buy Cardano?
On Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, deposits are absolutely free.
Withdrawal fees from the platform are as follows:
If you have opted for direct account funding, depending on which fiat currency you use, the deposit fees are:
