Buy Cardano (ADA)

The slogan they always use says a lot about their vision and reads as follows:

"Making the world work better for all".

Their mission statement:

"Cardano is a blockchain platform for innovators, visionaries and world changers with the tools and technologies necessary to create opportunities for both the many and the few. We want to create a positive global change."

Cardano is a proof of stake blockchain platform developed using evidence-based methods. A new technology that combines high security and tenability for decentralized applications, systems and communities.

It aims to replace structures that do not have to delegate responsibility with the individual having a say. Cardano brings trust back to global systems. Cardano is working with three companies to keep the goals in mind: Emurgo, IOHK and the Cardano Foundation.

Cardano is peer reviewed, meaning tested by employees of peer networks. Its goal is to be secure enough to protect the data of billions, scalable enough to manage global systems and robust enough to make a fundamental difference.

Atala PRISM (IOHK).

Academic degree issuance is heavily centralized. Problems like loss or damage leads to high costs when a new version is needed. Sometimes the institution does not even exist anymore. Sharing of documents is difficult because they are physical copies.

Atala PRISM is a solution for ID and certificates on the Cardano blockchain. It allows students to own a tamper-proof and immutable document that they can share instantaneously with companies and institutes that request it.

This is virtually cost-free and highly efficient. It allows students and applicants to seamlessly prove who they are and what they have accomplished.

When it comes to government documents, issuing them is often expensive and slow. The document remains the property of the issuer and authentication remains with third parties. This creates dependency and unnecessary costs.

Atala PRISM provides for this through a digital identity service, where the individual has control over their identity documents that they can show immediately upon request.

If you want to open a bank account it often takes weeks, government documents like passports take even longer to request. It is slow and all kinds of agencies charge money for their services.

Atala PRISM uses reusable verified identities that allow you to prove who you are with one click, free of charge and instant KYC (know your customer) and AML (anti money laundering).

Atala SCAN (IOHK).

In 2018, $300 billion in economic value was lost due to counterfeit goods. If this trend continues, markets will be flooded with fake products, which will not only result in large financial losses, but will also strain the reputation of brands and consumer confidence.

Atala SCAN uses blockchain technology to verify the authenticity of goods, whether online or in a store by using scanning technology.

Fake medications are a major public health hazard and cost legitimate manufacturers a lot of money. Online you can buy cheap medication whose origin is not certain because of the lack of strict verification.

The WHO estimates that 50% of medications sold online are either fake or substandard.

Atala SCAN can scan the origin and authenticity of a pharmaceutical product, allowing patients around the world to safely purchase medication.

Atala Trace (IOHK, Emurgo solution)

Agriculture is a food source that must constantly deliver, as our lives depend on it.

With blockchain technology, food can be tracked from seed to food on your plate using Atala Trace and Emurgo Solution.

Farmers, transporters and sellers can thus certify the supply chain, ensuring, for example, that your champagne really is from Champagne.

Ouroboros is a proof of stake protocol that works with security guarantees similar to proof of work for a fraction of the energy cost. Ouroboros applies cryptography, geometry and mathematical game theory to guarantee that the protocol has integrity and will for an unlimited time. Distributed networks, which depend on Ouroboros, must also continue to work this way.

Ouroboros is the first provably secure proof of stake protocol. It combines unique technology and mathematically verified mechanisms that in turn combine behavioral psychology and economic philosophy to ensure the security and sustainability of the blockchains that depend on it. The result is a protocol with proven security guarantees that can ensure the expansion of global, permissive networks with minimal energy requirements.

Ouroboros is a concept of infinity. It enables new global networks that are tenable and ethical. Ouroboros is proven secure against attackers as long as 51% of the stakeholders are honest. They make this possible through their random leader selection, which has the right to create a new block.

The protocol uses a reward system to make it sustainable. You can run a stake pool yourself, but usually people will join a stake pool, like an exchange, where you get interest on your ADA. Each stake pool gets to set its own terms, so you can see where you get the highest rewards.

To reach consensus on the state of the blockchain, many networks need more and more energy as the blockchain gets bigger and bigger as each block is added. Ouroboros is about 4 million times more energy efficient than Bitcoin, while the state of the blockchain is just as secure.

Ouroboros processes transaction blocks by dividing chains into epochs, which are then further divided into even more epochs. A leader is chosen for each epoch and is responsible for adding a block to the chain. This leader only sees the last few blocks temporarily. The chain can see a predetermined number of blocks that came before the ‘leader blocks’, determining the correct chain of blocks. This causes a settlement delay, a measure that is necessary to safely transfer the ledger between participants.

Ouroboros is a blend of innovative technology and philosophy. This protocol explores how we behave as a community to find an ideal balance, defined by game theory, between individual and collective interests. Ouroboros is stable and suited for permission networks that focus on the future.

Fun fact, an Ouroboros is a symbol of a snake or dragon biting its own tail, thereby representing the circle of infinity. It appears in many mythologies and in alchemy. In Greek, "oura" means tail and "boros" means eating.

The Cardano Foundation is an independent council that oversees the continued development of Cardano and the Cardano ecosystem. As legal guardians and owners of the Cardano brand, they are engaged in its adoption and are responsible for forging partnerships.

The growth of the community is a high priority for them, as well as legislative and commercial standards. Stakeholders are held accountable by this foundation at every level.

The main task is to expand the adoption of the platform and support the diverse Cardano community in developing ideas for Cardano.

The Cardano Foundation has a board of directors, a professional executive team and community managers selected from the large-scale Cardano community to take on this nurturing task to the highest standards.

The focus is both outward and inward. Collaboration with other key industries in the blockchain world is as important as advancing the technology and achieving adoption with other compatible systems. They are a great promoter of blockchain technology so that everyone can use and understand it.

Input Output Hong Kong is a technology company that builds cryptocurrencies for academia, businesses and governments. It was founded by Charles Hoskinson and Jeremy Wood.

IOHK is contracted to design, build and maintain the Cardano platform. It is fully decentralized with dynamic teams around the world, dedicated to innovation through delivering the highest standards in software design and are based on rigorously peer to peer inspected science.

IOHK is an industry leader in decentralized technology solutions and building distributed computing systems. They are engaged in cryptographic research and the architecture of cryptocurrencies.

IOHK is committed to open source principles and purposeful ethical business practices. They create technology for as many people as possible, so not for a select few. Blockchain education is important in their philosophical outlook. Research is focused on academic study of blockchain, supported by a team of experts and specially developed courses.

Charles Hoskinson is an American entrepreneur who is a co-founder of Ethereum. He is also the co-founder of Input Output Hong Kong (IOHK) and of Cardano.

At the University of Colorado and Denver, he studied analytical number theory, a highly mathematical study of numbers and objects, after which he was introduced to the cryptographic industry.

As one of Ethereum's five founders, he held the position of chief executive officer in 2013, but after a disagreement with Buterin over whether Ethereum should become commercial (Buterin didn't think so) he and his team threw Hoskinson out.

In 2014, he and his former colleague at Ethereum, Jeremy Wood, founded IOHK. This company sponsored universities in Edinburgh and Tokyo to conduct research on blockchain technology, the result of this research was Ouroboros, Cardano's consensus protocol. In 2015, Cardano was founded by Hoskinson, along with Jeremy Wood.

By now, according to Forbes, Hoskinson had saved up about half a billion, so $20 million could be used to build the Hoskinson Center for Formal Mathematics for the Carnegie Mellon University in 2021. He also bought himself a ranch and restaurant around Wheatland in 2022.

Ticker symbol: ADA
Founder(s): Charles Hoskinson
Date of Release: Sep-17, 2010
Consensus mechanism: Ouroboros Proof-of-Stake
Hashing Algorithm: Proof of Stake
Maximum supply: 45,000,000,000
Average Slot Time: 20 sec
Mining / Staking reward: 3.70%
Smart Contracts: Yes