What Is Cardano (ADA)?
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What Is Cardano (ADA)?
Let’s Start With Ethereum:
Reading time: 9 min read
What Is Cardano (ADA)?
Let’s Start With Ethereum:
It all started back in 2015 when Vitalik Buterin, Charles Hoskinson, and a team of developers began creating one of the most prominent and revolutionary cryptocurrencies we know today; Ethereum.
Vitalik Buterin; Creator of Ethereum.
Vitalik Buterin came from humble beginnings, at one point even writing articles for a job for Bitcoin when it was at its early inception, at prices we would dream of today, but then it was barely below the minimum wage.
Seeing the issues with Bitcoin, Vitalik Buterin created the Ethereum blockchain in 2015 and collaborated with a swarm of developers; including the creator of Cardano (we’ll get back to that in a second), and they aimed to become the global cryptocurrency superpower revolutionizing the financial system and ridding it of a centralized authority with a decentralized vision.
When Vitalik Buterin created the Ethereum project, he met a man by the name of Anthony Di Iorio . Di Iorio was a wealthy individual who played a key role with his investments and connections opening Buterin to a huge network of crypto enthusiasts and developers. Di Iorio was a key investor who enabled Buterin with his money and his connections.
Anthony Di Iorio Helped Make Ethereum A Reality
Di Iorio was heavily invested in the project, both with capital and his network. He allowed Buterin to spread his ideas and form connections with like minded individuals to help bring this idea into implementation. Di Iorio is even credited to have brought Charlse Hoskinson onto the Ethereum team. Charles Hoskinson joined the Ethereum Team with the aspirations of becoming CEO and leading the blockchain to success. Hoskinson wanted to revolutionize Ethereum and had a wide variety of differing opinions and visions for the Ethereum team.
Charles Hoskinson Was Brought Onto The Ethereum Team By Diorio And Aspired To Bring Ethereum Success
Buterin also introduced himself and his project to a man by the name of Gavin Woods , who was encapsulated with Ethereum and Buterin and the vision Buterin had to disrupt and revolutionize the financial system. Woods and Buterin collaborated and became quite close, and Woods became the chief architect of Ethereum and played an integral part into truly implementing this aforementioned science fiction into reality.
Gavin Woods Had The Technical Skills To Make Buterin’s Vision A Reality
Another important individual who played a role in creating the vision for Ethereum was Amir Chetrit ; whom Buterin met in Israel as he shared his early visions and ideas for Ethereum and collaborated to refine the vision to be able to truly implement it.
Amir Chetrit Played A Key Role In Refining Buterin’s Vision Into A Possibility
These individuals were some of the most prominent figures on the Ethereum Team, becoming a huge part of creating this vision into a reality we all can appreciate in one way or another. They paved the way for altcoins and helped innovate the financial system and spread awareness to the revolutionary technology blockchains truly have.
But the Ethereum Team had a load of internal drama ultimately caused a lot of issues for the project and the motivation of the team. Gavin Woods was accused of being quite arrogant, being extremely rude and disrespectful to anyone besides other programmers. Amir Chetrit had also reportedly lost faith in the project and even wore the T-Shirts of other cryptocurrencies he was working on when he collaborated with the Ethereum Team. Charles Hoskinson too faced controversies, and differed on his vision for Etheruem to that of Vitalik Buterin’s vision for the company.
Although United In Their Project, The Ethereum Team Was Immensely Divided On Their Visions
The drama had gotten so bad it is reported that Gavin Woods forced an ultimatum on Buterin to fire Charles Hoskinson and Amir Chetrit or he would leave the project for good. Buterin was faced with a difficult decision but Gavin Woods was one of the most integral parts of the project and aligned with Buterin’s vision more than that of Hoskinson and Chetrit, Buterin fired both Hoskinson and Chetrit at a meeting with the team. Hoskinson was cut off from the company he helped build, and with this came a new beginning. Hoskinson implemented his true vision for Ethereum that was shot down by the Ethereum Team with the inception of one of the most revolutionary and prominent cryptocurrencies to data; Cardano .
The Inception Of Cardano:
Hoskinson differed on his vision for a cryptocurrency and in his termination, Cardano (ADA) came from the ashes of his aspirations for Ethereum. His dreams to build Ethereum into a more sustainable network capable of true scalability were crushed by the ultimatum of Woods. Naming it after mathematician; Ada Lovelace, Charles Hoskinson created the Cardano Blockchain to implement the visions and ideas he thought would have saved Etheruem and revolutionized the financial system as he planned to. Cardano was created in September of 2017, and Hoskinson wanted to be very clear about his issues with his former developers and the blockchain he helped build. He found immense issues with the first generation cryptocurrency Bitcoin as well as the second generation cryptocurrency Ethereum, but wanting to build on their successes with his third generation crpytocurrency; Cardano. Hoskinson wanted to create Cardano to be more energy efficient, scalable, and decentralized than its predecessors. Cardano differs immensely from its predecessors with its proof-of-stake system .
The Differences Between Proof-Of-Work and Proof-Of-Stake:
Hoskinson argued that the proof-of-work system used by Bitcoin and Ethereum was flawed and environmentally unsustainable. With Cardano, he created a revolutionary proof-of-stake system called Ouroborus to power the blockchain in a more efficient and sustainable manner. But what are the differences between proof-of-stake and proof-of-work ?
Proof-Of-Work Is Used By Both Bitcoin and Ethereum
Proof-Of-Work refers to the consensus mechanism used by cryptocurrencies Bitcoin and Ethereum. Because of the nature and vision of a decentralized network for these cryptocurrencies, the blockchain must be able to affirm that no wallet can send the same money twice without an intermediary in the middle (think Paypal). Proof-Of-Work authorizes transactions by using miners across the globe to solve a complex and intricate math puzzle at the most efficient speeds possible in order to receive some of the cryptocurrency in rewards for their work contributing to the system. This reward system allows the blockchain to be constantly verified and updated. This virtual network also requires a huge amount of electricity and processing power, which is something that has been a huge concern for years now.
Proof-Of-Stake Was First Used By The Cardano Blockchain
Proof-Of-Stake refers to the consensus mechanism that differs immensely from Proof-Of-Work. This consensus mechanism aims to provide a different way to validate the blockchain transactions as a different solution for the issue validating the blockchain and ensuring no wallet sends the same amount of money twice without an intermediary as we mentioned before. Cardano uses a decentralized network of validators that invest some of their own Cardano tokens in a process called staking instead of producing processing power to validate and authorize the blockchain transactions. This consensus mechanism rewards validators depending on the amount they have in their staking pools (pool funds that are locked in staking to help validate purchases on the blockchain). This rewarding system allows the most invested validators to receive higher rewards and allow a more energy-efficient mechanism that is sustainable in the long term. Investors of Cardano can run their own staking pools or stake your Cardano for rewards in someone else’s staking pools !
Learn more about proof-of-stake from the Cardano Documentation.
Basic Overview Of The Differences Between Proof-Of-Work and Proof-Of-Stake
How The Cardano Blockchain Works:
Hoskinson also argued for mass scalability in regards to the Cardano Blockchain, with the vision to one day process as many as one million transactions per second. He argued that having the blockchain integrated into one layer would not allow it to be scalable and efficient as volume increases.
The Cardano Blockchain is divided into two separate layers: the Cardano Settlement Layer (CSL) and the Cardano Computing Layer (CCL) .
The Cardano Computing Layer (CCL) is the layer in which all the computations and calculations required for apps to run on the blockchain take place, via the operation of another revolutionary technology Cardano is known for called smart contracts . Smart Contracts will be available with Ethereum 2.0 but Cardano has implemented them in 2021!
The Cardano Settlement Layer (CSL) is where all the ledger of wallets, balances, and transactions are stored. The transactions are validated through the proof-of-stake mechanism mentioned early in this layer.
By dividing the blockchain into two separate layers each tasked separate but crucial roles in the Cardano Ecosystem, Cardano aims to become increasingly scalable and efficient.
Learn more about what a blockchain is from the Cardano Documentation.
Cardano’s Decentralized Peer-To-Peer Research System:
Hoskinson also wanted to create a decentralized peer-to-peer system that updates, operates, and maintains the Oroborous proof-of-stake consensus mechanism. With a peer based system operated by a global network of computer scientists, developers, and cryptographers from a wide variety of prestigious universities. Aiming to be decentralized and transparent, this global network of brilliant minds helps create the Cardano vision into the powerhouse we find it to be today!
Cardano’s Smart Contracts:
Another hallmark of Cardano and one of the integral parts to its notoriety of its blockchain is its ability to execute the operation of smart contracts . Smart contracts aims to be “tamper-proof, fast, and cost-effective” digital agreements verified in code and tracked and executed between various parties. It aims to act as an intermediary with a digital agreement on the Cardano Computing Layer (CCL) of the Cardano Blockchain.
Cardano Smart Contracts Is One Of The Hallmarks Of The Blockchain
To learn more about smart contracts, learn more from the Cardano Documentation.
Conclusion:
From the internal drama between a bunch of visionary programmers, and the differences in their visions for cryptocurrency, Hoskinson has been one of the most prominent predecessors to Ethereum as a third generation blockchain. Becoming one of the most popular, efficient, and sustained ecosystem, Cardano has been enjoying increases in adoptions both by investors and projects alike.