Cardano (ADA) can be described as a blockchain platform that’s designed to enable the development of decentralized applications and smart contracts. It is the first blockchain platform to be built on a scientific philosophy and to be developed through peer-reviewed research and scientific rigor. Developed by a global team of leading researchers and engineers, Cardano is set to revolutionize the way we use and interact with blockchain technology. 

This beginner's guide to Cardano will provide you with all the information you need to understand the platform, its features, and how to use it. From its unique consensus algorithm to its native token ADA, this guide will provide you with a comprehensive overview of Cardano. Whether you're a beginner interested in learning more about Cardano or a blockchain expert looking for the latest information, this guide has you covered from end-to-end. 

History of Cardano

Cardano was founded by Charles Hoskinson, who also co-founded Ethereum. However, Cardano is a very different platform from Ethereum regarding its design and goals. Whereas Ethereum is a decentralized application ("dapp") platform designed to power all sorts of different decentralized applications, Cardano is designed to be a "first generation" blockchain platform that can be used to build decentralized applications, as well as other things.

The Cardano Foundation, IOHK, and Emurgo are developing the Cardano platform. The three groups are working together to build the Cardano platform and will hold a stake in the Cardano ecosystem. 

The first phase of Cardano's development began in 2015. At the time, a company called Input-Output (IOHK) was contracted to build the platform. In 2017, IOHK decided to hand over control of the project to the Cardano Foundation and Emurgo. The three partners are now working together to bring Cardano to market. The next development phase has been completed sometime between 2020 and 2021. After that, Cardano emerged as a fully decentralized blockchain.

How Does Cardano Work?

The Cardano platform uses a proof of stake (PoS) consensus algorithm to manage its decentralized network. Proof of stake is a consensus algorithm where the right to add new blocks to the blockchain is determined not by computing power but by coin ownership. In PoS-based blockchains, users must "stake" or "deposit" their coins to add new blocks to the blockchain for a certain amount of time. The more coins a user stakes, the greater the chance that the user will be selected to add a new block. Cardano uses the Ouroboros proof of stake algorithm. 

Ouroboros is the first proof of stake algorithm to be proven secure in a peer-reviewed paper. This unique algorithm uses a "random selection of a catch-up fellow" to create a network with no central authority. In other words, no single person or group can control the network. The algorithm works by randomly selecting a "follower" who can "catch up" with the "leader."

The leader is the person responsible for adding new blocks to the blockchain. The follower has one job: to predict what the leader will do. If the follower is correct, they are promoted to the leader and given a chance to add a new block. If the follower is incorrect, they remain a follower, and another random person is selected to catch up. The Ouroboros algorithm was expected to be completed by June 2020. But, according to recent reports, Charles Hoskinson said that the Ouroboros Genesis implementation will be in 2023.

Cardano's Development and Governance

The development and governance of Cardano are handled by three large organizations:

‍The Cardano Foundation: The Cardano Foundation maintains Cardano's core. This group promotes the platform, manages its marketing and communications, and defends the brand.

IOHK: IOHK leads the team behind Cardano's core. This group is responsible for developing and maintaining the platform's core software and bringing new features to the market.

Emurgo: The third group, Emurgo, brings businesses and investments to the Cardano ecosystem. Emurgo helps businesses integrate with the Cardano network and encourages others to build projects on the Cardano platform.

The functioning of Cardano stands tall because of the highly secured and powerful ecosystem as mentioned above. Now, what is Cardano’s native token ADA?

Cardano's Native Token - ADA

Cardano's native token, ADA, sends money on the Cardano blockchain. It also rewards people who help maintain and build the network. The team behind Cardano has stated that ADA is more than just a token: it also serves as "the fuel that drives the Cardano ecosystem." Cardano’s development team has stated that the platform will be fully decentralized once the network has been around for a few years. Until then, the platform will be maintained by a group of stakeholders who have a vested interest in the platform's success. These stakeholders have a stake in the system and are rewarded with ADA for helping maintain the platform. ‍

There are 3-easy ways to earn ADA: 

• Hosting a node, 
• Providing software assurance, or 
• Contributing to the development of Cardano's software or research.

Apart from these, Cardano’s powerful 3-layered ecosystem makes it reliable and trustworthy. 

The 3-Layered Cardano's Ecosystem

Here are the three secured-layers that constitute Cardano (ADA): 

The Cardano Network: The Cardano network is the blockchain that runs the ADA token and smart contracts. It is maintained by the stakeholders, who receive ADA for their work.

Cardano's core technology: The Cardano core represents the core software that powers the Cardano network. This includes the programming languages used to build decentralized applications and the virtual machine that runs those apps.

All the projects built on top of the Cardano platform: The Cardano projects layer lists all the decentralized applications built on top of the Cardano network.
To top it all, you can also enjoy the benefit of smart contracts on Cardano. 

Smart Contracts On Cardano

Although Cardano is designed to be a dapp platform, it can also be used to build smart contracts. The programming language used to build smart contracts on Cardano is called Haskell and Cardano's virtual machine, called the "Computing Resources And Dispatcher" (CRDD), can execute many programming languages.

Any decentralized application built in any programming language can be hosted on the Cardano network. Cardano's smart contracts are unique because they are the first to be verified by a formal verification tool called the "Industrial Strength Verification" (ISV). This tool will help you confirm whether or not a smart contract is safe to use.

Cardano's Use Cases

Use Case #1: The first use case for Cardano is a decentralized application platform. This means that developers can build apps on top of the Cardano blockchain. These dapps will be able to send and receive ADA and use other features like the ability to create a wallet or sign a transaction. 

Use Case #2: The second use case for Cardano is as a financial asset. Investors can buy and sell ADA on cryptocurrency exchanges, and the token could also represent ownership in a company.

Now, let’s see the security measures that Cardano aims to offer.

Security on Cardano

One of the most common questions about Cardano is how secure it is compared to other blockchains. Cardano does not claim to be more secure than other blockchains but seeks to be as secure as possible. The team behind Cardano has said that one of their goals is to be the "safest and most reliable blockchain." 

One way Cardano strives to be more secure is through its unique design. While other blockchains are designed to do one thing well, Cardano is designed to do many different things less well. Cardano's design means no single platform part is crucial to its operation. If one part of the platform fails, many other parts can take its place. This indicates safety at its best.

Is Cardano a Worthy Investment?

There we are swinging again to whether or not Cardano is a good investment. Let’s check out the latest updates before we decide, shall we?

According to the Cryptoglobe’s Report, ADA’s price might soar up to 100% by 31st January, 2023. ‍Major upgrades are being anticipated by investors to improve DeFi’s significance through its oracles.

So, Cardano is something to look forward to owing to its upcoming features. 

Future of Cardano

Let’s dive a bit further into the future. Cryptopolitan thinks the price of ADA will soar up to $21.35 on an average, with a minimum price of $20.55. Changelly also believes that ADA price will rise, but the website thinks the coin price will only peak at $15.69, with an average of $13.92, similar to the data from Price Prediction. The website’s analysts predict that the coin’s maximum price will be $15.69 with a minimum of $13.55.

Most experts predict that Cardano might see a bright future in 2023. With persistent developments Cardano’s ecosystem has been witnessing, and in the crypto asset market as a whole, Cardano can potentially reach a new high.

The Bottom Line

Cardano aims to be a "first generation" blockchain technology. The platform is being built by a group of organizations, each with a specific role in the project.

The team hopes this design will help Cardano achieve its goal of being the most secure blockchain. The platform uses a unique consensus algorithm, and its native token is storable in various wallets. The token can be used to represent ownership in a company. 

Dogecoin (DOGE) has been making headlines lately as cryptocurrency continues to gain mainstream attention. But what exactly is Dogecoin, and should you consider investing in it? This article aims to explain Dogecoin's basics, how it works, and what you should consider before investing. 

Dogecoin is a cryptocurrency created in 2013 as a joke but has since become a serious player in the cryptocurrency market. At its core, Dogecoin is a decentralized, open-source, peer-to-peer digital currency that allows users to send and receive money with low transaction fees. It is based on the Litecoin protocol, a modified version of Bitcoin. 

Dogecoin has recently gained popularity due to its rapidly-growing user base, low transaction fees, and fast transaction speeds. Despite its novelty, Dogecoin is a legitimate cryptocurrency with many advantages over other currencies, including its security, low costs, and ease of use. Whether or not you choose to invest in Dogecoin is ultimately up to you. But by understanding the basics of the currency and doing your research, you can make an informed decision about whether or not Dogecoin is right for you.

A Quick Overview Of Dogecoin

Dogecoin is a decentralized, open-source, peer-to-peer digital currency that uses Litecoin's Scrypt algorithm as proof of work. Users can send and receive DOGE, while miners can also produce new Dogecoin as a reward for verifying transactions. As of December 2022, there are over 132 billion DOGE tokens in circulation, with a total supply expected to be in the trillions. 

Dogecoin's supply has no limit, meaning it can be mined infinitely. The maximum number of coins that can be mined per day is 100,000,000, while the maximum number of coins that can be mined per hour is 6,000,000. Dogecoin is traded on an average of 50 exchanges, with the highest daily volume being over $560 million. Bitcoin's market capitalization is $320 billion, while Dogecoin stands at $11.96 billion.

How Does Dogecoin Work?

As mentioned above, Dogecoin is a decentralized, open-source, peer-to-peer digital currency that uses Litecoin's Scrypt algorithm as proof of work. The Scrypt algorithm is based on the SHA-256 algorithm, which is used by cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. The SHA-256 algorithm is parallelized, meaning it can be divided into independent sections and computed simultaneously.

The Scrypt algorithm, on the other hand, is designed to be less predictable. This makes it more difficult for people to calculate a mining reward and for ASICs to be used for mining. This makes mining Dogecoins more decentralized, with users across the globe contributing to the mining process.

Advantages of Dogecoin

The top three advantages of Dogecoin are stated below for your best understanding:

1. Security: Dogecoin's proof-of-work algorithm is much less susceptible to hacking than centralized, third-party payment providers. 

2. Low costs: Dogecoin's low transaction fees and high supply make it a cheaper alternative to services like PayPal. 

3. Fast transaction speeds: Dogecoin's block time of one-and-a-half minutes makes it one of the fastest cryptocurrencies regarding transaction speed.

Disadvantages of Dogecoin

On the other hand, there are a couple of disadvantages that might need your attention, especially if you are looking for an active investment in Dogecoin:

• No proper accountability: While no entity owns or controls Dogecoin, there is no accountability if the cryptocurrency is hacked. This means that no one can reimburse you if your Dogecoins are stolen. 

• Fraud risk: Because Dogecoin is not monitored by a central authority, there is a risk of fraud. This means you need to be extra cautious when investing in Dogecoin and always double-check the legitimacy of any exchange or company you plan to do business with.

Dogecoin's Market Performance

Dogecoin's market performance since its inception has been impressive. In 2022 alone, Dogecoin experienced a 350% increase in value, making it one of the top-performing cryptocurrencies in the last year. While it is difficult to determine what exactly caused this surge in value, there are a few things we can point to.

Dogecoin recently announced that it would partner with a company called Dogewallet to release a new cryptocurrency wallet. This news likely drove Dogecoin's value up, allowing the currency to become even more accessible to its growing user base. Dogecoin has also made headlines due to its sponsorship of a NASCAR race car and a social media tipping campaign.

Now that you know the performance of Dogecoin over the years, let’s look at the simple process of buying and owning it.

How to buy Dogecoin?

Buying Dogecoin is not difficult. Just follow four basic steps:

1. Account Creation: Create an account on a cryptocurrency exchange that lists Dogecoin.
2. Finish your KYC: Complete the identity verification process. Exchanges typically require a scan of an identity document such as a driver's license or passport.
3. Do the Money Transfer: Transfer money from your bank account to the cryptocurrency exchange. The exchange may accept other payment methods, but bank account transfers generally have the lowest fees.
4. Just Click on “Buy”: Once the money is available in your account with the exchange, select the "buy" option to purchase Dogecoin.

Right there, you have it all ready to trade or store Dogecoin. 

The Controversy Around Dogecoin

If you are aware of Dogecoin, then you might know the controversy surrounding it. When Elon Musk first tweeted about it - supporting it - its prices soared to the sky but came down crashing. There is also a $258 million lawsuit against him for this that states:

According to an amended complaint filed in the Manhattan court, Elon, his companies, Tesla and SpaceX, Boring and others intentionally drove up the price of the Dogecoin to more than 36,000% over two years and then let it crash. As a result, the defendants made tens of billions of dollars which came at the expense of other Dogecoin’s investors, while knowing that it has less intrinsic value and will rise up or go down only by marketing. 

This might make you worry about the future of Dogecoin and make you think if you should invest in DOGE or not.

Should You Invest in Dogecoin?

Dogecoin is a cryptocurrency that has experienced impressive growth since its inception. It has several advantages over other cryptocurrencies, including its security, low costs, and ease of use. These advantages make Dogecoin a viable investment option for those who want to try their hand at cryptocurrency but do not want to start with Bitcoin. That said, cryptocurrency trading is risky, and investing in Dogecoin can come with risks. 

There is no guarantee that Dogecoin's value will continue to rise, meaning that there is a risk that you could lose money. Additionally, investing in Dogecoin means you must be comfortable keeping your money in a digital wallet. If you are interested in investing in Dogecoin, be sure to do your research, make an informed decision, and invest only what you can afford to lose.

The Bottom Line

Dogecoin has seen exponential growth followed by a drastic fall due to the fact that its value depends on the market sentiment. One tweet from Musk can spike its price overnight, and, in the long-run it might be a risky investment.

This is just our opinion as per data. Having said that, we would suggest you to always have a complete analysis of the market response to Dogecoin and how it keeps changing with times. This way you will be able to make an informed or rather a wise decision.

Disclaimer

The information provided on this website does not constitute investment advice, financial advice, trading advice, or any other sort of advice and you should not treat any of the website's content as such.

Token Metrics does not recommend that any cryptocurrency should be bought, sold, or held by you. Do your own due diligence and consult your financial advisor before making any investment decisions.

Investing in crypto can be intimidating, especially when a bear market is set in. And if you want to kickstart your 2023, here are a few projects you can look forward to. Note that some of these are not launched yet while some are trading.

Remember, the idea behind this is to Buy Low & Sell High; i.e., you have to get in early, accumulate, and, once you see the risk on you, start taking profitable steps to yield good returns.

Best Crypto Projects to Invest in 2023

Let's see what cryptocurrency projects you might need to look out for investment in 2023.

1. Airstack

Airstack provides data infrastructure for web3. Their APIs enable easy querying across projects and blockchains — powering a new world of data-aware experiences. It’s founded in 2014 by Ariel Seidman and Ben Wong, which now stands at a total funding of $23M - so, it's worth looking into.

2. Airchains

Airchains is a popular middleware SaaS platform that allows you to build and deploy your own dApp on any of the chains below:

• Avalanche
• Cosmos
• Polygon Edge
• Polkadot
• Celestia 
• Ethereum

Founded by Ankur Rakhi Sinha in 2021, it stands at a total funding of over $638M as of now. If you are a developer, who doesn’t like building tons of services all by yourself, then this is for you. The inbuilt features are something to look forward to.

3. Nolus

Nolus is the world's first DeFi Lease platform. It might sound risky at first, but let's say you borrow collateral that's more capital efficient; you can borrow 150% of your collateral but is locked in their ecosystem, and you can't get out until it's repaid. It does take a while to get it, but it's worth it.

The aim is to combine the leverage of Tradfi and DeFi with the advantages that decentralization brings to the table. With the Nolus DeFi Lease, users will hold the complete authority of customizing the parameters of the on-chain contractual agreement.

4. Nibiru Chain

Nibiru is an open-sourced platform and a member of the interconnected family of Cosmos Ecosystem. It's a competitor for dYdX; it can unify leveraged derivatives trading, staking, and bonded liquidity provision into a seamless user experience. It enables users with over 40 blockchains to trade with leverage using a suite of composable dApps.

5. Nillion

Nillion is a secure processing layer for web3 which is equipped with new capabilities and use cases for blockchain and the real world. It focuses on quick decentralized computation. Andrew Masanto, a serial entrepreneur and investor, is the Co-founder of Nillion and as of Jan 2023, it has a standing funding of over $20M. And it can be positive choice to invest in the near future.

6. Blockless

Blockless helps you launch your project on a decentralized global network. It is a WASM-based verifiable serverless functions platform that can ensures top-class security and reliability. They recently introduced Blockless ZK, a prover as a service solution powered by zkWASM. This is an added feature to guarantee the execution correctness to your WASM apps with just a single click.

7. Hivemapper

Hivemapper is the world's first crypto-enabled dashcam representing a fundamental shift in how maps are built by enabling people using dashcams to mine their cryptocurrency, HONEY.

It's yet to be launched, but you can earn tokens to drive. The dashcam costs around 600 bucks, and it's a no-brainer to get started. This has a good potential of 100x because if you are already driving, you might as well get paid for it.

8. Canto

Canto is a cutting-edge Layer-1 blockchain solution that aims to bring the benefits of decentralized finance (DeFi) to a wider audience. By leveraging the power of free public infrastructure, Canto aims to create a new type of digital commons where individuals can take control of their financial assets and engage in a wide range of financial transactions without having to rely on traditional financial intermediaries.

9. Moonbeam

Moonbeam is a multi-chain platform that bridges dApps from Polkadot and Cosmos. It is an Ethereum-compatible smart contract parachain on Polkadot with minimal configuration changes and pre-built integrations.

10. Mina Protocol

Mina Protocol is the world’s lightest blockchain powered by participants. Mina is building a low-tech infrastructure for the secure, democratic future - as we all anticipate. There is no risk of your personal information being hacked or sold. You are the only one who owns your data, and it never leaves your device.

11. Harmony (ONE)

Harmony is an open-sourced fast blockchain; running the transactions of Ethereum applications in as little as 2 seconds. It is also 100x cheaper compared to others in the market. The average cost per transaction lies at around $0.0001.

The three pillars that Harmony thrives to balance are: scalability, security, and decentralization.

‍It encourages random state sharding with a guaranteed security of offering 250 nodes per shard and cryptographic randomness to re-shard regularly.

12. GMX

GMX is a platform that offers up to 50x leverage directly from your wallet for trading BTC, ETH, AVAX and other top crypto currencies. This reduces liquidation risks, saves on costs, and offers a simple swap interface.

Disclaimer

The information provided on this website does not constitute investment advice, financial advice, trading advice, or any other sort of advice and you should not treat any of the website's content as such.

Token Metrics does not recommend that any cryptocurrency should be bought, sold, or held by you. Do conduct your own due diligence and consult your financial advisor before making any investment decisions.