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Launched in 2017, Cardano was designed to be an all-in-one cryptocurrency. Bitcoin, which uses the blockchain to let people send and receive tokens to each other, was the first generation of cryptocurrency.
You can think of Ethereum as the second generation. This unlocked the real potential of blockchain technology in the form of “smart contracts”, which are programs designed to do things automatically on the blockchain.
Cardano might be the third generation and has the goal of overcoming the problems other currencies have encountered. It was specifically designed with the aim of offering fast and direct transfers as well as a platform for financial applications. Its goals are incredibly ambitious, but there are a lot of issues Cardano will need to overcome to achieve these goals.
Learn more Where to buy Cardano (ADA)
See our guide for a complete run-down of Cardano and its ADA cryptocurrency
Coin name | Ada |
Symbol | ADA |
Algorithm type | Ouroboros proof of stake |
Mineable | No |
Launch date | 29 September 2017 |
Predicting the price of any cryptocurrency is a tricky business. Cryptocurrencies are complex, volatile and highly speculative, and there are many competing factors with the potential to positively or negatively influence price. Some of the key issues that could push Cardano’s price up or down are outlined in the table below.
The future plans and developments in store for any cryptocurrency project can have a big bearing on its future price. This is especially true for projects like Cardano that are in the early stages of development.
Happily, the Cardano community maintains an impressive and thorough road map outlining its plans for the months and years ahead. The first phase of the road map, Byron, saw the release of the Cardano mainnet in September 2017. The next phase, Shelley, is designed to ensure that all the key elements are in place so that the platform can grow into a fully decentralised and autonomous system.
Throughout Q2 and Q3 of 2018, the features of Shelley will be released, including the following:
Shelley will be followed by Goguen, which features a host of important milestones, including the following:
Importantly, a testnet version of IELE on the Ethereum Mantis client is scheduled for launch around April 2018 and will allow developers to test smart contracts.
It’s also important to be aware that Cardano isn’t the only project being billed as a next-generation blockchain platform. As well as battling with established players in the crypto sphere, it will also face competition from other new projects. The following are some other currencies you may want to keep an eye on:
Built on scientific philosophy and peer-reviewed academic research, Cardano offers a different approach to many of the other smart contract platforms. It’s backed by a strong development team, has a clear time line of goals and offers a host of benefits over the largest smart contracts platform, Ethereum.
However, it’s still only in the early stages of development. While the Cardano team are currently working on launching its virtual machine, smart contracts capability and a host of other features, its competitors will also be getting their own houses in order. Most notably, Ethereum will be working on scaling solutions to improve transaction processing times, and the progress it makes in this area could have a big impact on the price of Cardano.
Both 2018 and 2019 will be crucial periods in Cardano’s development. As more and more features are developed and rolled out, crypto enthusiasts will be watching with interest to see whether the Cardano platform keeps growing as planned.
In finder’s March 2018 cryptocurrency predictions, the average forecast from our panel of experts was for ADA to achieve a 594% price increase by the end of the year – whether this prediction comes true remains to be seen.
The bottom line with Cardano and its ADA cryptocurrency is that it’s still very early days. While it’s a platform with plenty of promise and potential, that promise and potential is still some way off from being fully realised. It’s also far from the only exciting project with lofty goals, and predicting which platforms will achieve widespread adoption and which will struggle for relevance is extremely difficult.
With this in mind, the best advice is simply to do your own research. Find out everything you can about the fundamentals behind Cardano and what the project hopes to deliver. If you’re optimistic about its chances of success and the potential for price gains, you can then think about buying some ADA.
Images: Shutterstock
At the time of writing, the author holds IOTA and XLM.
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