What Is Cardano (ADA)? A Complete Overview
Cardano (ADA) is a third-generation blockchain platform built on peer-reviewed academic research and a scientific development philosophy. Founded in 2015 and launched in 2017 by Charles Hoskinson — one of Ethereum's original co-founders — Cardano is developed and maintained by three organizations: Input Output Global (IOG, formerly IOHK), the Cardano Foundation, and Emurgo.
The name "Cardano" honors Gerolamo Cardano, a 16th-century Italian mathematician and polymath, while the native cryptocurrency ADA is named after Ada Lovelace, the 19th-century mathematician widely regarded as the world's first computer programmer. This historical naming reflects Cardano's identity as an academically rigorous blockchain project.
"Cardano is the first blockchain platform developed from a scientific philosophy with a research-first approach to every major protocol update."
— IOG Research Team
Cardano's architecture is unique in that it operates on two separate layers: the Cardano Settlement Layer (CSL), which handles ADA transactions and ledger balances, and the Cardano Computation Layer (CCL), which handles smart contract execution and decentralized applications. This dual-layer design allows each component to be independently optimized, improving overall scalability and flexibility.
- Founded: 2015 by Charles Hoskinson; mainnet launched September 2017
- Consensus Mechanism: Ouroboros Proof-of-Stake (the first peer-reviewed PoS protocol)
- Max Supply: 45 billion ADA tokens
- Current Circulating Supply: approximately 36 billion ADA
Cardano uses a Proof-of-Stake consensus mechanism called Ouroboros, which is far more energy-efficient than Proof-of-Work systems like Bitcoin. ADA holders can stake their tokens by delegating to staking pools, earning passive rewards while helping validate transactions and secure the network. With over 1.3 million active staking wallets and more than 110 million total transactions processed, Cardano has established one of the largest and most engaged on-chain communities in the cryptocurrency space.
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The common category includes then following block: Paragraph, image and gallery, quote, audio, cover, video. The paragraphs block is a default block type. This the is should not have on any and alignment of any kind. Category and the there are too many things to following blocks.