Cardano: The Most Academic Approach to Blockchain Development

Cardano was named after the Italian scientist Gerolamo Cardano. He was born in 1501 and is known for calculating the probabilities of gambling mathematics and experimenting with the origins of game theory. The cryptocurrency (ADA) is known for its evolution and implementation of scientific philosophy. All of Cardano’s newly developed protocol undergoes some form of academic peer review. Holding high intellectual standards is a priority for the developers of Cardano. Their network is named “Ouroboros,” which is a ‘provably secure proof of stake protocol.’

Input Output Hong Kong (IOHK) is the company behind Cardano. Charles Hoskinson is the CEO of IOHK and the creator of Cardano.

In 2014, Vitalik Buterin, Charles Hoskinson, and many others launched Ethereum. Ether soon became the most successful second generation cryptocurrency. Many early Ethereum developers had conceived different visions of what the future of Ether should look like. Similar to Bitcoin and Bitcoin cash, this ultimately led to the division into Ethereum Classic and others, such as Cardano. The primary goal of Cardano is to solve the fundamental flaws of Ethereum such as scaling, interoperability, and sustainability.

In cryptocurrency, scalability is a loaded term which carries various meanings. There are three perspectives regarding scalability, and first is transactions per second. Furthermore, how many transactions can be contained within a particular block? Second, transactions carry data, which requires more network resources. Third, excess bandwidth is needed for a system to scale. This could require hundreds of megabytes per second to support all the data traveling through the system.

Within Cardano, the blockchain world is split into epochs. Slot leaders are contained within the epochs which essentially execute the job of mining. However, slot leaders use significantly less computational resources, therefore it is considerably cheaper than the bitcoin system. Slot leaders do not need to maintain a single chain. Since the cost of constructing blocks is relatively low, slot leaders can reach consensus through multi-chain layers. In addition, multiple epochs can be ran in parallel. This means the network’s efficiency increases as more users join the system. The system’s efficiency increases because users bring more computational resources to the network.

Multi-chain layers will provide the ability to move large amounts of data simultaneously. When a system is undergoing 100k+ transactions per second, it is unrealistic for every node to broadcast every action, primarily because some nodes may not have the capability.

Cardano is combatting this problem with a new technology called RINA. It stands for Recursive Inter-Network Architecture. Not every node requires the data of the blockchain. RINA will hopefully provide some form of compression to future data.

Overall, Cardano is a cryptocurrency forged around the concepts of objectivity, the scientific method, and peer reviewed journals. The problems Cardano attempts to solve will not be easy. Fortunately, the philosophy and methodology behind the continual development of Cardano is promising. With a dedicated team of intellectuals working to make Cardano a success, the future seems bright. If Cardano can win the race by solving the issues of scaling, interoperability, and sustainability, it will remain a valuable coin for years to come.

Disclaimer: I am not a financial advisor. This is not financial advice. Please do your research independently and make objective decisions. This article is intended to educate readers about Cardano. The author does not hold positions Cardano.