Cardano was founded in 2015 by Ethereum co-founder Charles Hoskinson. The development of the project is overseen by the Cardano Foundation, based in Zug, Switzerland. It is also the largest cryptocurrency using a proof-of-stake blockchain, viewed as an environmentally friendly alternative to proof-of-work protocols.
The platform's development began in 2015 and was launched in 2017 by Charles Hoskinson, one of the co-founders of Ethereum. Hoskinson left Ethereum after a dispute with one of its founders, Vitalik Buterin; Hoskinson wanted to accept venture capital and create a for-profit entity, while Buterin wanted to continue operating as a non-profit organization. After leaving, he co-founded IOHK, a blockchain engineering company, whose core business is developing Cardano, alongside the Cardano Foundation and Emurgo. The platform is named after Gerolamo Cardano, while the cryptocurrency itself is named after Ada Lovelace.
Oddly, Cardano does not have a white paper. Instead, it uses design principles aimed at overcoming issues faced by other cryptocurrencies such as scalability, interoperability, and regulatory compliance.
Cardano uses a proof-of-stake protocol called Ouroboros; this is in contrast to Bitcoin and Ethereum, which use proof-of-work protocols. Proof-of-stake blockchains use significantly less energy than proof-of-work blockchains. In February 2021, Hoskinson estimated that the Cardano network uses 6 gigawatt-hours annually, which is less than 0.01% of the 110.53 terawatt-hours used by the Bitcoin network according to estimates from the University of Cambridge. Cardano reached a market cap of $77 billion in May 2021 and solidified its position as the largest proof-of-stake cryptocurrency.
Within the Cardano platform, there is the Ada currency on the settlement layer. This layer resembles Bitcoin and tracks transactions. The second layer is the computation layer. This layer is designed to be similar to Ethereum, allowing for the execution of smart contracts and applications on the platform.
Cardano expects to implement decentralized finance services on September 12, 2021, including an upgrade to enable smart contracts and the ability to create decentralized applications. Plutus, a smart contract language written in Haskell, and a specialized smart contract language designed for non-programmers in the financial sector are also included. Cardano's specific smart contract languages allow developers to conduct thorough testing of their programs without leaving the integrated development environment or deploying their code.
Cardano holders can stake their Ada currency to receive interest on their investments through what are called epoch payments.
