What is Cardano（ADA）? The First Peer Reviewed Crypto Project

What is Cardano? A decentralized blockchain project developed to execute smart contracts and governance protocols. Its main focus lies on the deployment of fast and scalable smart contract solutions that are peer-reviewed and foolproof.

Origins of Cardano: Cardano began its conception in 2015 and was officially released in 2017, created by Ethereum co-founder and mathematician Charles Hoskinson. The word “Cardano” derives from Girolamo Cardano, a mathematician and medical practitioner known for pioneering studies in probability calculus. The name of its token, ADA, comes from Ada Lovelace, a renowned mathematician and writer.

How does Cardano work?

---

Ouroboros: Ouroboros is the heart of the project, responsible for its staking mechanisms and high-speed transfer without sacrificing security and decentralization.

Slots and Epochs: These are the intervals (slots) and cycles (epochs). The slots are time intervals within Ouroboros that last precisely one second. Epochs, on the other hand, last five days or 432 thousand slots. Each slot is native to a particular epoch and vice versa, both answering to Ouroboros’ Proof of Stake.

CCL and CSL: CSL is the layer that manages everything related to Cardano’s transaction history, as well as consensus rules. As for CCL, it keeps a track record of what happens with all the transactions in the network, potentially applying it to new smart contract mechanisms and cross-chain solutions.

The ADA token: It is the governance token of the project, used for staking, governance updates, blockchain validation and of course, as an asset of value to trade and store. The main plan involving the crypto is to make ADA a “first-class” token of the highest market cap, surpassing even Bitcoin and Ethereum by allowing for secure and fast smart contract deployment under a scalable network.

How to buy ADA: Once you have created a Gate.io account, head over to the Trade section and select Spot Trading. You will be directed to Gate.io’s main trading hub. From the top-left corner, search Cardano or ADA to see what pairs are available to trade from.

How to store ADA: When assets are purchased in Gate.io, they are immediately provided with state-of-the-art custody which can be accessed through the Wallet menu on the top-right corner. Just head to Funds Overview and select the chosen account that you’d like to view your assets on.

How to stake ADA: Gate.io offers staking options to thousands of cryptocurrencies, and that includes staking ADA. To stake Cardano, head to the Finance menu on the top toolbar, then click HODL & Earn. From there, click on the Flexible Term category to see what Cardano staking options are currently available.

Very few projects have the popularity, fanbase and adoration that Cardano has. Currently at #9 in the top 1 ranking of the most popular cryptocurrencies, it was founded as a groundbreaking new solution to smart contracts that would allow the project to surpass all previous frameworks of blockchain and digital assets and take the crypto market as a whole to new heights.

Often labelled as the “Ethereum killer” by media and its faithful group of investors, Cardano is extremely promising - although it still has plenty to deliver, as it currently goes through the process of implementing its very first native projects.

So what is Cardano? In this article, we explore the Cardano project and what made it stand out for the past few years as a leading competitor in the crypto market, along with its ADA token.

What is Cardano?

---

Cardano is a decentralized blockchain project developed to execute smart contracts and governance protocols to be used by individual investors, companies and institutions. Often referenced as the “Ethereum killer,” its main focus lies on the deployment of fast and scalable smart contract solutions that are peer-reviewed and foolproof.

Contrary to other blockchains such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, Cardano has always utilized Proof of Stake (PoS) consensus for its governance protocols - being one of the first crypto projects to do so. The goal of the project is to not only be the main source of smart contracts in the crypto ecosystem, but also the central store of value as well. An extremely ambitious goal, as it would seek to replace both Bitcoin and Ethereum in this endeavour. According to files and interviews with members of the project, they judge Bitcoin as being too slow and inflexible while Ethereum is not scalable and unsafe.

Under the slogan “Make the World Work Better for All,” Cardano promises to be the most environmentally sustainable blockchain in the world, and the first to be created through peer-reviewed scientific research rather than trial-and-error processes conducted by fully independent initiatives.

Origins of Cardano

---

The Cardano project began its development in 2015, with the creation of the company IOHK in Hong Kong. The company was conceived by developers Madeira de Jeremy and Charles Hoskinson - Hoskinson being one of the core co-founders of Ethereum, until he left the project due to creative differences to pursue other interests.

Hoskinson, one of the leading figures in all of crypto, had his Bachelor’s in mathematics and a Master’s in Theory of Numbers, with his background in academia encouraging him to create a project based entirely on peer-reviewed scientific research. With a background in the University of Edinburgh and Tokyo’s Institute of Technology, he began working on Cardano while still in IOHK until he decided to dedicate full-time to the crypto foundation. After two years of intense development, Cardano became a reality. On September 23rd, the first block of its blockchain was successfully mined.

A curiosity to many, the name Cardano derives from Girolamo Cardano, a mathematician and medical practitioner known for pioneering studies in probability calculus. The name of its token, ADA, comes from Ada Lovelace, a renowned mathematician and writer, most known for her work with Charles Babbage’s Analytical Machine. From its founder to the inspirations behind the name, Cardano made clear that it was really pursuing the goal of being a peer-reviewed blockchain - often referenced as the “first scientific blockchain” in the world.

How does Cardano work?

---

The core operation process in Cardano is based on a large group of technologies, all working together to make Cardano a fully scalable, reliable, high-speed blockchain. Within this large group, there are three core mechanisms, described as follows:

Ouroboros

---

Ouroboros is the consensus algorithm, a variation of the traditional Proof of Stake framework. You might have heard or seen figures of Ouroboros as the ancient myth of a giant snake eating itself, to display the perpetual cycle of the network.

Being the first peer-reviewed crypto network, Ouroboros is the heart of the project, responsible for its staking mechanisms and high-speed transfer without sacrificing security and decentralization. Under the current framework, Ouroboros is natively programmed to produce one block every 20 seconds of the blockchain - ensuring its rapid transaction confirmation protocol.

The blockchain validators, contrary to other projects, are selected randomly to verify transactions and receive rewards from their staking funds. However, the chances of being elected increase with the more ADA tokens you have staked in the governance blockchain.

Slots and Epochs, part of Ouroboros

---

Within the Ouroboros framework, we can observe two other novel concepts that are not present in other PoS projects. These are the intervals (slots) and cycles (epochs). The slots are time intervals within Ouroboros that last precisely one second. Epochs, on the other hand, last five days or 432 thousand slots. Each slot is native to a particular epoch and vice versa, both answering to Ouroboros’ Proof of Stake.

This framework creates a security mechanism that protects it from hackers trying to subvert the protocol, since validations can only occur during correspondent slots and epochs. If they’re not precisely the same, it fails. Epochs are elected their validation leaders, the validators, that must take into account the previous slots and epochs in order to verify transactions. This is also known as delayed liquidation.

CCL and CSL, the operation layers

---

Another integral part of Cardano’s functioning is the fact that its blockchain is split between two well-defined layers, steering away from the mono-chain concept of previous blockchains. These layers are called CCL and CSL. CSL is the layer that manages everything related to Cardano’s transaction history, as well as consensus rules. It's within CSL where we have the staking rewards emission and the full verification of transactions. It also handles the resources to improve the transactions and supply side-chain interoperability.

As for CCL, it keeps a track record of what happens with all the transactions in the network. The idea behind it is to provide additional functionalities to these transactions that do not affect the core consensus of the network, based on the CSL. This would allow Cardano to apply consensus rules and operability such as functioning within a different blockchain or a separate smart contract without affecting its native network.

The ADA Token

Cardano’s native token, as previously mentioned, is ADA. It is the governance token of the project, used for staking, governance updates, blockchain validation and of course, as an asset of value to trade and store. The main plan involving the crypto is to make ADA a “first-class” token of the highest market cap, surpassing even Bitcoin and Ethereum by allowing for secure and fast smart contract deployment under a scalable network. Currently, with 32 billion tokens issued with a 45 billion supply cap, Cardano might actually surpass Bitcoin and Ethereum one day - that is, if all its plans work out flawlessly. Regardless, Cardano has been in the top 10 largest cryptocurrencies for about three years, even reaching the #3 world crypto position back in August of 2021; not even a year ago.

How to buy ADA

Cardano’s native token ADA can be purchased at Gate.io multi-services platform through several ways; from a cash deposit, crypto deposit, credit card and P2P trade.

Once you have created a Gate.io account, head over to the Trade section and select Spot Trading. You will be directed to Gate.io’s main trading hub. From the top-left corner, search Cardano or ADA to see what pairs are available to trade from - the most popular one being ADA/USDT.


If your account already has the proper funds to pair with the trade, you are ready to execute your order!

How to store ADA

---

When assets are purchased in Gate.io, they are immediately provided with state-of-the-art custody which can be accessed through the Wallet menu on the top-right corner. Just head to Funds Overview and select the chosen account that you’d like to view your assets on.

How to stake ADA

---

Gate.io offers staking options to thousands of cryptocurrencies, and that includes staking ADA. To stake Cardano, head to the Finance menu on the top toolbar, then click HODL & Earn. From there, click on the Flexible Term category to see what Cardano staking options are currently available - with new opportunities potentially added at any time. The same format applies to any other asset available on the platform. Browse around and see what investment options interest you!



Author: Gate.io Researcher Victor Bastos
* This article represents only the views of the researcher and does not constitute any investment suggestions.
*Gate.io reserves all rights to this article. Reposting of the article will be permitted provided Gate.io is referenced. In all other cases, legal action will be taken due to copyright infringement.