Cardano
Overview
Cardano is a blockchain and smart contract platform that uses peer-reviewed research to avoid the pitfalls of its predecessors. It is a third-generation public blockchain, founded on September 29, 2017, with a mainnet launch to follow in the year.
Challenges
Cardano faces a number of challenges, including scalability, energy consumption, and the ability to interact with regular money.
Milestones
- May 2021: Cardano launched smart contracts on testnet.
- 2021: The mainnet launch is planned for later in the year.
- 2021: The Alonzo hard fork is launched, bringing smart contracts to the mainnet.
What is Cardano?
Cardano calls itself the “first third-generation cryptocurrency.” It aims to be a platform on which people can create smart contracts.
Features
- Proof of Stake: Cardano uses proof of stake, which consumes less power than proof of work.
- Uouroboros: The consensus protocol sits behind Cardano’s capability as a decentralized proof-of-stake platform.
- Smart Contracts: Cardano supports smart contracts, which can be used to create decentralized applications.
How it works
- Transaction Validation: Cardano