 ### ADA sits at no. 7 of the top cryptocurrencies by market capitalization according to coinmarketcap.com, and at the time of this writing. ADA is a long-time favorite token of many in the cryptoverse, and it has spent a good amount of time in the top 20. We regularly keep an eye on ADA and it would be good to review the basics from time to time.

#### What is ADA? 
ADA is the native token of the Cardano blockchain. ADA presently has a market capitalization of $11.5B. 

#### What is Cardano? 
It is a decentralized blockchain created in 2015 by Charles Hoskinson – one of the cofounders of Ethereum. ADA is among the platforms dubbed as “ETH” killers. As such, it is among many platforms that are being developed as home for decentralized applications and smart contracts. Similar to how ETH is necessary to pay for transactions on the Ethereum network, ADA the currency to spend for transactions on the ADA network. 

#### What are the popular projects on Cardano? 
According to CoinBureau, some of the popular projects for 2023 are: MiniSwap (MIN), SundaeSwap (Sundae), MELD (MELD), Cornucopias (COPI), Empowa (EMP), Djed (DJED), Revuto (REVU). What is the consensus mechanism used by Cardano? Cardano utilizes a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus mechanism called Ouroboros. It is designed to be more secure and energy-efficient that proof-of-work (PoW) mechanisms used by other platforms including bitcoin. 

On Cardano, randomly selected nodes create the new blocks of data. The block must be validated before it can be added to the blockchain. Bad actors are disincentivized by the potential loss of staked ADA. The network participation is incentivized with payment of ADA sourced from transaction fees. What makes Cardano special? Cardano has never had any down time. 

While Cardano’s development may seem slow, it is one of the prominent chains that has been dependable 100% of the time. It should be noted though that the network isn’t being used as much as others. In fact, it is only recently that stablecoins have launched on Cardano and the number of dApps is still much lower than other prominent chains. 

However, what is promising is that the security and reliability seem to be as near perfect as can be, so far. If Cardano can maintain the extremely high level of security and reliability while remaining relatively cheap and fast to use, it will remain a strong contender for the top spots among the available platforms. 

#### What are the controversies around Cardano? 
When Cardano first launched smart contracts back in 2021, it was rumored that the chain was doomed and only able to handle one transaction at a time. 

This rumor was debunked but the reasons were so technical and hard for many to understand. Zycrypto explains it well in this [article](https://zycrypto.com/cardanos-rumoredsmart-contract-issues-and-limitations-thoroughly-debunked/)

In sum, Cardano has solid fundametals.  For full disclosure, it is one of cryptoflash.report’s favorite crypto projects to follow. 

We had speculated before that in the crypto race, the turtle wins. ADA still looks like that kind of a strong contender. 

You can read more about Cardano [here](https://cardano.org/). 

 ADA sits at no. 7 of the top cryptocurrencies by market capitalization
according to coinmarketcap.com, and at the time of this writing. ADA is a long-time
favorite token of many in the cryptoverse, and it has spent a good amount of time in
the top 20.

Wed Mar 08 2023

Cardano Review: The Basics of ADA

Cardano's Hydra Unleashed: Unveiling The Power Of Limitless Scaling On Mainnet

Side Chain Toolkit For Cardano Now Available

10 Reasons Why Cardano is an Amazing Blockchain Project

Excitement is Growing Over a Cardano Stablecoin

Cardano Swaps Are On the Rise

Side Chain Toolkit For Cardano Now Available

Wed Mar 08 2023 Cardano Review: The Basics of ADA

Cardano's Hydra Unleashed: Unveiling The Power Of Limitless Scaling On Mainnet

Side Chain Toolkit For Cardano Now Available

10 Reasons Why Cardano is an Amazing Blockchain Project

Excitement is Growing Over a Cardano Stablecoin

Cardano Swaps Are On the Rise

Side Chain Toolkit For Cardano Now Available

Wed Mar 08 2023

Cardano Review: The Basics of ADA