Cardano ADA as a useful new payment system providing fast, safe, cheap transactions

Today, the trend of launching ICOs is growing constantly. In other words, people all over the world are running ICOs, with promising ideas to implement. However, only some of them are pursuing their projects successfully. A high percentage of ICOs have turned out to be scams. Ex-CEO of Ethereum, Charles Hoskinson, has been frustrated by this tendency in the cryptocurrency world.

Today, we would like to offer you an exploration of the Cardano platform and its token ADA, its advantages and disadvantages, the price history. Also, you will be able view projects and applications that have been developed or are going to be developed on the platform. Here we go!

The Main Benefits

Initially, Cardano ADA was invented to improve an outdated financial system in which gaining trust is hard because of a lack of stable identity and privacy. Cardano is a blockchain platform based on smart contracts. It provides its users with greater benefits and opportunities compared to other, similar platforms. Academics developed it. That’s why a foundation of scientific philosophy lies at the heart of Cardano ADA. Investigations of Cardano have shown that it’s secure, scalable, and flexible for innovation. In order to solve the problem of slow transactions and high fees, it was built to integrate a wide range of cryptocurrencies without the use of third-party resources.

Cardano combines privacy and regulation. Additionally, Cardano ADA stands out due to its transparency, because every month, it goes through a third-party audit. The platform also boasts a thoroughly scientific approach.

One of the main advantages of Cardano ADA is Proof-of-stake (PoS). It offers higher speed and lower transaction costs. This provides a new rewards system for preventing attacks that include selfish mining.

In addition, Applicature would like to emphasize one more important benefit of the Cardano ADA: its adaptability. This feature allows implementation of improvements without much forking. Moreover, the project boasts a two-layer meeting requirement (like KYC and AML) to run apps.

Who Founded Cardano ADA?

Three organizations, including the Cardano Foundation, Emurgo, and IOHK, combined their efforts to make Cardano ADA scalable, secure, and flexible. It was launched by the IOHK team in September 2017. Its leaders are Charles Hoskinson, ex-co-founder of BitShares, and Jeremy Wood, ex-member of the Ethereum team. Cardano ADA was successfully released in different countries, and even among students at various universities.

The Cardano Foundation is working to provide security and promotion for the Cardano protocol technology. Therefore, its main goal is fixing all issues in rules governing the cryptocurrency, as well as improving and developing the ecosystem.

Emugro is working on developing, protecting, and promoting businesses. It is seeking partnership with other organizations and companies that want to implement blockchain into their businesses. Emugro has found research-and-development centers for these purposes in other countries, including South Korea and the Philippines.

This multifunctional platform provides users with opportunities to receive payments, game, gamble, and build their own ICOs ― all in one of the widest networks available. Moreover, the founders of Cardano are planning for it to become decentralized in 2019, when the next level will be completed. Let’s take a look at all of Cardano’s features in detail.

Blockchain Technology

Cardano is based on the blockchain, and uses a PoS method called Ouroboros. The method is based on the voting of coin-holders. Slot leaders who own coins issued by the platform ADA are responsible for the confirmation of payments and the generation of new blocks.

Cardano’s blockchain consists of two layers:

1. The first layer is ADA. This a native platform cryptocurrency. It operates on the Cardano settlement layer and the ledger processing transactions.
2. The second layer is the Cardano computation layer. It supports smart contracts and provides participants with a network for building DApps. The layer has several advantages compared to its main competitor: Ethereum. You can update it, creating soft forks when two layers of Ethereum are intertwined. The medium layer connected to the two main layers of Cardano is made up of side chains. It was developed using the Haskell programming language, which provides a high level of security.

How Was the Cardano Settlement Layer (CSL) Built?

CSL is the layer underlying the native cryptocurrency base.  One node of the network is chosen to generate a new block. Its probability of generating a new block depends upon the number of Cardano coins the node has in their wallet. Therefore, all nodes with a stake more than zero are called stakers. They have the right to take part in the competition for generating a new block. The slot leader elected by the majority has the right to build a new block from the transactions announced by other participants in the network.

There are three groups of nodes:

1. Core nodes. These can be chosen as stake leaders and can generate new blocks, but they never validate payments.
2. Relay nodes. This type of node can’t be chosen as stake leaders. Also, they can’t process payments. They are only under the control of the initial stakers.
3. Edge nodes. This is the most widespread type of node. Everyone can run them on the computer. In addition, they take part in the transaction validation process, but they can’t become stake leaders, and can only communicate with relay nodes.

Use Cases

• GRNET was released in January 2018. Developers created this educational network for checking student diplomas.
• Traxia was released in Spring 2018. Founders developed it to convert invoices to smart contracts, providing them with the possibility to be sold as short-term assets.
• New York Ledger Accelerator. SOSV is a project that runs accelerators, including HAX IndieBio and Food-X. It focuses on blockchain projects and DApps.

Cardano ADA and Wallets

Founders of the Cardano Platform have issued a native cryptocurrency called ADA with a total supply of 45 billion. Also, developers have produced several cryptocurrency wallets, including:

1. Project Icarus was released on August 15, 2018. It’s a convenient browser wallet that doesn’t weigh much. Its allure includes a combination of speed and usability. With it, you have the opportunity to create your own applications.
2. The Daedalus Wallet was developed using a new development technology that provides it with a high level of protection from hacks and vulnerabilities. Initially, this wallet was launched to store only native Cardano coins. However, in the future, it is planning to add more coins and make a multi-currency wallet and develop an option for Linux. The developers are going to implement the wallet back end. This will provide HD wallet capabilities and a link between the wallet and the Cardano platform. Wallet owners will be able to create protected HD keys and transactions. Aditionally, they will be able to analyze the blockchain for changes that have impacted the wallet.

1. Yoroi was the third wallet developed for the Cardano platform on October 1, 2018. This is a light-client desktop wallet. Users can apply it as an alternative option for Daedalus. It allows storage of private keys on the user’s machine without sharing with servers.
2. Paper wallets were also produced for cold storage of the Cardano coin. They provide users with the maximum level of protection against hacks and vulnerabilities. This type of wallet is suitable for long-term deposits that allow one to keep Cardano ADA and private keys offline.

Future Projects

• The developers are going to provide users with multi-signature transactions. This option will allow multiple users to share ownership of a wallet.
• Founders plan to issue debit cards. It will provide users with the opportunity to use the Cardano coin everywhere.
• The launch of smart-contract apps, including online casinos and gambling games.
• The development of a multi-currency ledger that will enable both the Cardano coin and currencies issued by other platforms to have equal status. It will provide both with protection from hacks and vulnerabilities, validation of payments, and an improved level of efficiency. With the benefits of smart contracts, every asset that exists on the settlement layer can be converted with ease to provide users with new functions. If needed,  an asset can be converted back. The multi-currency ledger will enable the use of different cryptocurrencies within Cardano without applying smart contracts. However, the main benefit of this implementation will be the ability to create your own currencies!
• Integration with the Ledger Nano S. the founders of Cardano ADA are going to implement support for the hardware wallet for the highest level of security and protection against hacks and vulnerabilities. This will provide the opportunity to store Cardano ADA offline, and to always carry it with you. The first step to reaching this goal is building an app for the hardware wallet. Then the first stage of developing the wallet is complete. As mentioned in the roadmap, the Daedalus wallet will be integrated with the hardware wallet.
• Building sidechains that enable different blockchains to interact with each other within Cardano. Developers will build them in the view of separate blockchains, providing users with a greater number of opportunities. Sidechains allow coins to move to a sidechain and back to the main network. This will increase the capacity limits of the main chain, and provide it with new features without forking.

Cardano Price Analysis and Prediction

Additionally, Cardano ADA is currently listed on more than 30 exchanges worldwide, including the most famous: Bittrex, Binance, Huobi, and others.

The Cardano coin is in ninth place at the top of the cryptocurrency list in terms of market cap. Today, its market cap is equal to U.S. $1,098,943,848. Its circulating supply is equal to 25,927,070,538 Cardano coins. The current ADA price is around US $37.

The ADA price reached its peak on January 4, 2018, and was equal to $ 1.18 with a market cap $30,577,013,248. After its upturn, the ADA price started falling again and reached U.S. $0.14 at the end of the March 2018. After its decline, the ADA price started to rise, reaching its maximum at U.S. $.37 with a market cap of U.S. $9,752,571,291.

Let’s take a look at the Cardano ADA problems. Why does Cardano ADA lose its positions?

Cardano ADA’s Main Problems

Despite all benefits of Cardano, experts state that demand for Cardano ADA is low, since the team hasn’t yet implemented a lot of projects due to incomplete smart-contract and token standards. As a result, it’s still hard to use for people who want to run their ICOs and implement asset tokenization. That’s why Cardano ADA is losing its position among its main competitors: Ethereum and EOS.

Disadvantages of Cardano ADA:

1. It is at risk that competitors can succeed because of its slow development.
2. Eventually, the regulatory environment can change, demanding different requirements for the platform.
3. The implementation of projects and features of released products has exceeded the amount of time announced in the roadmap.
4. The developers have been implementing the blockchain slowly.

Conclusion

Cardano shows great promise. Three successful global organizations, including the Cardano Foundation, Emurgo, and IOHK have joined to issue a revolutionary new project to change the financial system as a whole. At this moment, the founders of Cardano ADA have issued the browser wallet Icarus, the Daedalus Wallet with extended opportunities and benefits, and Yoroi, a high-client desktop wallet. The payment system processed more than 70,000 transactions during the first year. In spite of all the risks, founders have released Cardano successfully and continue to implement the projects and features mentioned in the roadmap. The team will focus on providing services that can solve a significant number of problems in the cryptocurrency world. In terms of all successfully-implemented projects and developed wallets for users of the Cardano coin, experts predict growth in Cardano’s price up to May 2019.