Cardano made simple
Everything you need to know about Cardano and how to start investing init.
Current Price
This one’s easy: the price the coin or token is trading at right now.
$0.4783 CAD
-$0.007506 (-1.54%) past 24 hours
Market Cap
The value of the entire supply of a specific cryptocurrency or token. It’s calculated by taking the price of a coin/token and multiplying it by the total number of that coin/token in circulation.
- $21,669,465,017.40
Circulating Supply
The amount of coins that have already been created and are available in the market.
- $35,664,388,341.32
Total Supply
The total amount of coins currently in existence minus any coins that have been burned or removed from circulation.
- $45,000,000,000
24h low - high range
Low-high range over the past 24 hours.
- 0.4783915 - 0.4942584
7 day low - high range
Low-high range over the past 7 days.
- 0.4176069 - 0.4980885
52 week low - high range
Low-high range over the past 52 weeks.
- 0.3190784 - $1.15
Cardano 101
Cardano, also known as ADA, is a blockchain that seeks to rival the market leading platform for programmable cryptocurrencies, Ethereum. Indeed, its leader is Charles Hoskinson, an Ethereum co-founder. Hoskinson left Ethereum following a dispute with co-founder Vitalik Buterin over whether to commercialize Ethereum, which was Hoskinson’s view, or to run it as a non-profit. Hoskinson is also CEO of Input Output Hong Kong (IOHK), a software development company that builds on ADA.
Like Ethereum, Cardano supports smart contracts: self-enforcing bits of code that let you automate financial services without the need for intermediaries, like banks.
But Cardano iterates on Ethereum in a couple of key ways. First, it’s a proof-of-stake blockchain (something that Ethereum is moving towards but hasn’t completely reached), meaning that the network grants those with the most coins (rather than the beefiest computers) the right to validate transactions. Cardano’s validation algorithm is called Ouroboros. The Ouroboros algorithm makes Cardano, claims Hoskinson, lighting fast and cheap to use.
Second, Cardano updates its code based on peer-reviewed consensus. A team of academics pore over each submission to make sure that it’s squeaky clean, instead of letting anyone decide how to upgrade the protocol. Hoskinson says that this is more efficient.
Cardano, also known as ADA, is a blockchain that seeks to rival the market leading platform for programmable cryptocurrencies, Ethereum. Indeed, its leader is Charles Hoskinson, an Ethereum co-founder. Hoskinson left Ethereum following a dispute with co-founder Vitalik Buterin over whether to commercialize Ethereum, which was Hoskinson’s view, or to run it as a non-profit. Hoskinson is also CEO of Input Output Hong Kong (IOHK), a software development company that builds on ADA.
Like Ethereum, Cardano supports smart contracts: self-enforcing bits of code that let you automate financial services without the need for intermediaries, like banks.
But Cardano iterates on Ethereum in a couple of key ways. First, it’s a proof-of-stake blockchain (something that Ethereum is moving towards but hasn’t completely reached), meaning that the network grants those with the most coins (rather than the beefiest computers) the right to validate transactions. Cardano’s validation algorithm is called Ouroboros. The Ouroboros algorithm makes Cardano, claims Hoskinson, lighting fast and cheap to use.
Second, Cardano updates its code based on peer-reviewed consensus. A team of academics pore over each submission to make sure that it’s squeaky clean, instead of letting anyone decide how to upgrade the protocol. Hoskinson says that this is more efficient.
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What can you do with Cardano?
Before September 12, 2021, you couldn’t do an awful lot with Cardano (ADA). You could send it between wallets, like on the Bitcoin blockchain, or stake ADA to secure the Cardano blockchain. You could also use it as a governance token, a kind of voting chip to cast your ballot in proposals to upgrade the network or fund projects.
On September 12, Cardano launched smart contracts—self-enforcing bits of computer code that host decentralized applications, like non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and decentralized finance protocols, like non-custodial exchanges and automated lending protocols. These are experimental projects, most of which have not been battle-tested or audited as of this writing, in November 2021
Before September 12, 2021, you couldn’t do an awful lot with Cardano (ADA). You could send it between wallets, like on the Bitcoin blockchain, or stake ADA to secure the Cardano blockchain. You could also use it as a governance token, a kind of voting chip to cast your ballot in proposals to upgrade the network or fund projects.
On September 12, Cardano launched smart contracts—self-enforcing bits of computer code that host decentralized applications, like non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and decentralized finance protocols, like non-custodial exchanges and automated lending protocols. These are experimental projects, most of which have not been battle-tested or audited as of this writing, in November 2021
Is Cardano a smart investment?
Crypto carries risks — but generally speaking, our advice (regardless of whether you’re investing in Cardano or stocks) is: never invest what you can’t afford to lose. The smartest way to grow your money long term is with a diversified, low-cost portfolio that tracks the market.
Crypto carries risks — but generally speaking, our advice (regardless of whether you’re investing in Cardano or stocks) is: never invest what you can’t afford to lose. The smartest way to grow your money long term is with a diversified, low-cost portfolio that tracks the market.
How we keep your Cardano safe
As Canada’s first regulated crypto trading platform, we’re required to meet certain requirements — like using only qualified custodians (like Coinbase Custody) for cold storage.
FYI: Wealthsimple Crypto is not an exchange itself. Instead, we work with multiple exchanges to give you the best Cardano prices.
And to make sure your coins are extra protected, we’ve partnered with Coincover for an extra layer of security.
If you’re holding crypto outside of Wealthsimple, that’s no problem. You can safely transfer your Cardano to your Wealthsimple account in just a few taps.
As Canada’s first regulated crypto trading platform, we’re required to meet certain requirements — like using only qualified custodians (like Coinbase Custody) for cold storage.
FYI: Wealthsimple Crypto is not an exchange itself. Instead, we work with multiple exchanges to give you the best Cardano prices.
And to make sure your coins are extra protected, we’ve partnered with Coincover for an extra layer of security.
If you’re holding crypto outside of Wealthsimple, that’s no problem. You can safely transfer your Cardano to your Wealthsimple account in just a few taps.
Other cryptos to explore
- 1 inch (1INCH)
- Avalanche (AVAX)
- Aave (AAVE)
- Amp (AMP)
- ApeCoin (APE)
- Axie Infinity (AXS)
- Balancer (BAL)
- Basic Attention Token (BAT)
- Bitcoin (BTC)
- Bitcoin Cash (BCH)
- Cardano (ADA)
- Chainlink (LINK)
- Celo (CELO)
- Chiliz (CHZ)
- Compound (COMP)
- Cosmos (ATOM)
- Curve (CRV)
- Dai (DAI)
- Decentraland (MANA)
- Dogecoin (DOGE)
- Enjin (ENJ)
- Ethereum (ETH)
- Fantom (FTM)
- Filecoin (FIL)
- Gala (GALA)
- Kyber Network (KNC)
- Litecoin (LTC)
- Loopring (LRC)
- Maker (MKR)
- Ox (ZRX)
- Polygon (MATIC)
- Polkadot (DOT)
- Ren (REN)
- Sandbox (SAND)
- Shiba Inu (SHIB)
- Solana (SOL)
- Stellar (XLM)
- SushiSwap (SUSHI)
- Synthetix (SNX)
- Tezos (XTZ)
- The Graph (GRT)
- Uma (UMA)
- Uniswap (UNI)
- USDC (USDC)
- Yearn Finance (YFI)
More info about Cardano
Want to take a deeper dive? Check out these articles about Cardano and the world of crypto.
- What is Cryptocurrency?Robert Stevens Cryptocurrencies are a type of digital asset that run on blockchain technology. Here’s everything you need to know.
- What is Blockchain? The Ultimate GuideRobert Stevens A quick primer on the building blocks needed to understand the basics of blockchain
Explore all articles on Crypto
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