Cardano logo

Cardano

ADA

Trade Cardano today

Create a Coinbase account to buy and sell Cardano on the most secure crypto exchange.

Market

Market stats

Market cap

$13.7B

Volume (24h)

$263.2M

Circulating supply

35.3B ADA

Typical hold time

229 days

Popularity

#8

All time high

$3.10

Price change (1h)

+0.93%

Price change (24h)

+4.49%

Price change (7d)

+5.05%

About Cardano

Cardano (ADA) is a blockchain platform built on a proof-of-stake consensus protocol (called Ouroboros) that validates transactions without high energy costs. Development on Cardano uses the Haskell programming language, which is described as enabling Cardano “to pursue evidence-based development for unparalleled security and stability.” The blockchain’s native token, ADA, is named after the 19th century mathematician, Ada Lovelace.

What is Cardano (ADA)? 

Cardano is one of the biggest cryptocurrencies by market cap. It’s designed to be a next-gen evolution of the Ethereum idea — with a blockchain that’s a flexible, sustainable, and scalable platform. Cardano aims to enable smart contracts, which will allow developers to build a wide range of decentralized finance apps, new crypto tokens, games, and more. According to the creators of Cardano, “Ouroboros is the first provably secure proof-of-stake protocol… more secure, scalable, and energy-efficient than anything that has come before.”

The Cardano blockchain is divided into two separate layers: the Cardano Settlement Layer (CSL) and the Cardano Computing Layer (CCL). The CSL contains the ledger of accounts and balances (and is where the transactions are validated by the Ouroboros consensus mechanism). The CCL layer is where all the computations for apps running on the blockchain are executed — via the operations of smart contracts. The idea of splitting the blockchain into two layers is to help the Cardano network to process as many as a million transactions a second.

Unlike Ethereum-based tokens, Cardano native tokens aren’t created via smart contract. Instead, they run on the same architecture as the ADA cryptocurrency itself. According to the nonprofit Cardano Foundation, this makes Cardano native assets “first-class citizens” on the blockchain. Their native architecture can theoretically make these tokens more secure and reduce the fees associated with transactions.

A brief history of Cardano 

Cardano was launched in September 2017 by Ethereum co-founder Charles Hoskinson, and aims to be a third-generation blockchain (or blockchain 3.0) project — building on top of the technology pioneered by Bitcoin (first gen) and Ethereum (second gen). Cardano’s goal is to be a highly scalable and energy-efficient smart contract platform. 

The Ouroboros consensus mechanism is based on peer-reviewed research by a team of computer scientists and cryptographers from the University of Edinburgh, Tokyo University, and other institutions. Their goal was to build a decentralized network that could validate transactions in a scalable, secure way — while ensuring that the Cardano platform would be as energy-efficient as possible.

How do I stake Cardano?

Cardano’s goal is to be the most environmentally sustainable blockchain platform. It uses a unique proof of stake consensus mechanism called Ouroboros, as opposed to the energy-intensive proof-of-work system currently used by Bitcoin. 

Proof-of-work vs. proof-of-stake

Decentralized cryptocurrency networks need to make sure that all transactions are legitimate without the oversight of a central authority, like a bank. To accomplish this they use a “consensus mechanism” to verify transactions. 

The original crypto consensus mechanism, called proof of work, was first popularized by Bitcoin mining. Proof of work requires a large amount of processing power contributed by virtual “miners” around the world. Rather than using a network of miners, proof of stake uses a network of invested participants called validators.

  • The network selects a winner based on the amount of ADA each validator has in the pool and the length of time they’ve had it there — literally rewarding the most invested participants. 

  • Once the winner has validated the latest block of transactions, other validators can attest that the block is accurate. When a threshold number of attestations have been made, the network updates the blockchain. 

  • All participating validators receive a reward in ADA, which is distributed by the network in proportion to each validator’s stake. 

  • Becoming a validator is a major responsibility, but interested parties can also earn ADA rewards by “delegating” some of their crypto to a staking pool run by someone else. 

On March 1, 2021, the Cardano blockchain introduced the ability to create native tokens. Like Ethereum tokens — which can include things like NFTs or stablecoins — Cardano native assets can be created and distributed on the blockchain and are able to interact with smart contracts (once smart contracts are enabled on the platform). 

Where can I buy Cardano? 

Much like the Ethereum blockchain’s native cryptocurrency is ETH, the Cardano blockchain’s native cryptocurrency is ADA — which can be bought or sold via exchanges like Coinbase. Today, ADA can be used to store value (perhaps as part of your crypto portfolio), to send and receive payments, and for staking and paying transaction fees on the Cardano network.

How do I store Cardano? 

You can hold ADA on Coinbase, in Coinbase Wallet, and using a number of crypto exchanges and wallets.

Released: September 2017

Related Assets

People also view

People who viewed Cardano tend to also view the following cryptocurrencies.

Trending assets

Assets with the biggest change in unique page views on coinbase.com over the past 24 hours.

Popular cryptocurrencies

A selection of cryptocurrencies in the top 50 by market cap.

Recently added

A selection of the most recently added cryptocurrencies.

Comparable market cap

Of all the assets on Coinbase, these 12 are the closest to Cardano in market cap.

Social

Some highlights about Cardano on social media

6,277 unique individuals are talking about Cardano and it is ranked #6 in most mentions and activity from collected posts. In the last 24 hours, across all social media platforms, Cardano has an average sentiment score of 0 out of 5. Finally, Cardano is becoming more newsworthy, with 6 news articles published about Cardano. This is a 0% increase in news volume compared to yesterday.

On Twitter, people are mostly neutral about Cardano. There were 22.49% of tweets with bullish sentiment compared to 5.41% of tweets with a bearish sentiment about Cardano. 72.1% of tweets were neutral about Cardano. These sentiments are based on 13442 tweets.

On Reddit, Cardano was mentioned in 0 Reddit posts and there were 0 comments about Cardano. On average, there were more upvotes compared to downvotes on Reddit posts and more upvotes compared to downvotes on Reddit comments.

Powered by LunarCrush

Overview

Contributors

6,277 people

Posts

11,050 posts

Dominance

0.8%

Volume rank

#6

News Articles

6

Twitter

Coinbase Bytes

Coinbase Bytes

The week’s biggest crypto news, sent right to your inbox

Cardano is on the rise this week.

The price of Cardano has risen by 5.05% in the past 7 days. The price increased by 4.49% in the last 24 hours. In just the past hour, the price grew by 0.93%. The current price is $0.39 per ADA. Cardano is 87.48% below the all time high of $3.10.

The current circulating supply is 35,299,892,987.106 ADA.

FAQ

What is the current price of Cardano?

We update our Cardano to USD currency in real-time. Get the live price of Cardano on Coinbase.

What is the market cap of Cardano?

The current market cap of Cardano is $13.71B. A high market cap implies that the asset is highly valued by the market.

What is the all time high of Cardano?

The all-time high of Cardano is $3.10. This all-time high is highest price paid for Cardano since it was launched.

What is the 24 hour trading volume of Cardano?

Over the last 24 hours, the trading volume of Cardano is $263.23M.

What other assets are similar to Cardano?

Assets that have a similar market cap to Cardano include Tether, BNB, XRP, and many others. To see a full list, see our comparable market cap assets.

How many Cardano are there?

The current circulating supply of Cardano is 35 billion.

What is the typical holding time of Cardano?

The median time that Coinbase customers hold Cardano before selling it or sending it to another account or address is 229 days.

What is the relative popularity of Cardano?

Cardano ranks 5 among tradable assets on Coinbase. Popularity is currently based on relative market cap.

What is the current trading activity of Cardano?

Currently, 98% of Coinbase users are buying Cardano. In other words, 98% of Coinbase customers have increased their net position in Cardano over the past 24 hours through trading.

Can I buy Cardano on Coinbase?

Yes, Cardano is currently available on Coinbase’s centralized exchange. For more detailed instructions, check out our helpful how to buy Cardano guide.

Discover ENS Profiles

Navigate the world of Ethereum Name Service (ENS) profiles. Connect, learn, and engage with the web3 community on profile.coinbase.com. Check out some of the most popular ENS profiles below.