Cardano
About Cardano
Cardano (ADA) is a Proof-of-Stake blockchain that supports smart contracts and enables the creation of decentralized apps (dApps), tokens, and more. It is designed to be scalable, sustainable, and flexible. The Cardano network uses Ouroboros, a Proof-of-Stake consensus mechanism, which allows ADA token holders to delegate their tokens to staking pools run by validators to validate transactions. Cardano was launched in 2017 by Charles Hoskinson and Jeremy Wood and is now maintained by three organizations and its community. ADA is the native token of the Cardano network and is used to pay for transaction fees and can be used for governance or to earn rewards through Proof-of-Stake consensus. The current era, Basho, focuses on scalability and network optimization, while the final era, Voltaire, will bring voting and treasury management to the network.
Cardano’s native cryptocurrency, ADA, was launched in 2017 following a public sale of 25.9 billion ADA tokens, which began in September 2015. A further 5.2 billion tokens were issued and shared among the three separate entities that market and develop the Cardano protocol. They are Input Output Global (IOG), Emurgo, and the Cardano Foundation. IOG was issued 2.46 billion tokens, Emurgo 2.06 billion, and the foundation 648 million.
When the token became publicly tradable, ADA’s price was $0.02. Within 96 days, prices skyrocketed to their previous all-time high of $1.31 in tune with the rest of the crypto market during the 2017 crypto bull run.
Like the prices of most crypto assets in 2018, ADA’s price fell sharply that year. By November 2018, it had fallen back to $0.02.
It took more than two years before ADA returned to above $1.31. Spurred by a new bull market cycle in early 2021, ADA continued to climb, and it hit $2.46 in mid-May 2021. A brief correction occurred between May and July before prices shot up even further. This time, ADA reached a new all-time high of $3.10 in early September 2021.