Cardano (ADA) has had an amazing run. A year ago it was trading at $0.15 per coin and within 10 months it hit an all-time high of $2.96 per unit – representing a nearly 20x multiple. Cardano has been around since 2017 and is the brainchild of Ethereum (ETH) co-founder, Charles Hoskinson. Hoskinson had some philosophical differences with other Ethereum founders, specifically Vitalik Buterin. Despite those differences, when Hoskinson left the ETH team he copied the best attributes of Ethereum, and found fixes for its weaknesses, and used those elements as the DNA he wanted for ADA.
Hoskinson made Cardano more than just a “store of value” token, opting to focus on utility and user retention – creating more of an “app store” ecosystem that spans a variety of verticals including finance, banking, healthcare, education and more. Its most developed use case is decentralized finance (DeFi) via various decentralized apps (dApps) that enable activities such as person-to-person lending, interest earning staking, passive income creation from referral rewards, as well as yield farming. All without the intermediaries, delays, or excess fees of traditional finance.
Cardano’s value is limited only by its developers and the applications they create. And that value has pumped ADA’s price more than 800% during the past 12 months. However, Cardano has been sliding over the past 90 days. Per this chart from CoinMarketCap.com, Cardano is down -48% since Sep. 1. While the early slippage was part of a broader crypto correction, Cardano suffered a steeper slide when cryptocurrency exchange eToro announced last week it would delist ADA as part of unspecified regulatory concerns.
However, these are minor setbacks for an excellent project that’s currently trading at a deep discount and here are a few reasons why.
First, Cardano uses a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus model to settle transactions, which simply means that users need only “stake” their ADA coins to participate in the network and earn new coins. A PoS model is cheaper to run than Bitcoin, which uses a proof-of-work system that requires a lot of expensive computer servers, cooling gear, and energy. Ultimately, Cardano’s PoS system is more sustainable, inexpensive, and environmentally friendly in the long run.
Second, Cardano’s development roadmap is on track. It has added DeFi and smart contracts – which are automated transactions that settle when computer coding conditions are met – to its network and is currently adding even more dApps and greater utility. After it completes its current “Goguen” phase it has two more development stages to finish – named “Basho” and “Voltaire” respectively – where programmers will improve and scale the ecosystem, and then move to a self-sustaining, community-centric governance model.
Third, Cardano has an extremely loyal and committed base of followers. This is evidenced by the fact that nearly 71% of the circulating supply is “staked,” which means investors are holding it for the long term as can be seen on the chart below from stakingrewards.com. It also has a $50 billion market capitalization and continues to rank in the top-10 of all cryptos – Cardano’s tokenomics are strong.
Every project in crypto has its ups-and-downs. But very few have the leadership, vision, superb programmers, outstanding foundational technology, and proven developmental roadmap of Cardano. If you have to worry about a project, fret about Dogecoin, Shiba Inu, Floki Inu or any other meme- themed project. But the Cardano project will not only survive – it will thrive.
On The Flipside
- A nearly 50% decline in 90 days is concerning, however, it could be manipulation by institutional investors to take profits or keep the price low for discounted investing.
Why You Should Care?
Cardano does offer more value than many other tokens and coins, due to its potential to have real-world impact. That impact will only increase as its network scales and improves in the near future.
Disclaimer: The author has holdings in Bitcoin, Ethereum, Cardano, XRP, Chainlink, and Energi.
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