How to Buy Cardano (ADA)
Beginner’s Guide
What Is Cardano (ADA)?
Cardano is a proof-of-stake blockchain platform that says its goal is to allow “changemakers, innovators and visionaries” to bring about positive global change.
To learn more about this project, check out our deep dive of Cardano.
The open-source project also aims to “redistribute power from unaccountable structures to the margins to individuals” — helping to create a society that is more secure, transparent and fair.
Cardano was founded back in 2017, and named after the 16th century Italian polymath Gerolamo Cardano. The native ADA token takes its name from the 19th century mathematician Ada Lovelace, widely regarded as the world’s first computer programmer. The ADA token is designed to ensure that owners can participate in the operation of the network. Because of this, those who hold the cryptocurrency have the right to vote on any proposed changes to the software.
The team behind the layered blockchain say that there have already been some compelling use cases for its technology, which aims to allow decentralized apps and smart contracts to be developed with modularity.
In August 2021, Charles Hoskinson announced the launch of the Alonzo hard fork, causing Cardano price to surge, gaining 116% in the following month. On Sept. 12, 2021, the Cardano ‘Alonzo’ hard fork officially launched, bringing smart contract functionality to the blockchain. Over 100 smart contracts were deployed in the following 24 hours after the launch.
Cardano is used by agricultural companies to track fresh produce from field to fork, while other products built on the platform allow educational credentials to be stored in a tamper-proof way, and retailers to clamp down on counterfeit goods.
How to Buy Cardano Summary
- Get a Cardano wallet (e.g. Ledger, Trezor , Exodus, Guarda, AtomicWallet)
- Find an exchange that sells Cardano (e.g. Crypto.com, Binance , Coinbase , Bitfinex , Kucoin)
- Deposit money and make the trade
- Withdraw the Cardano to your wallet
Buying Cardano in 3 Simple Steps
Step 1 – Get a ADA wallet
Cardano Hardware Wallets
Cardano (ADA) is a popular cryptocurrency that uses a proof-of-stake consensus mechanism. As with any cryptocurrency, it is important to keep your Cardano secure, especially if you hold a significant amount of it. One way to do so is by using a hardware wallet, which is a physical device that stores your private keys offline and away from potential hackers.
Currently, there are a few hardware wallets that support Cardano. Here are some of them:
Ledger Nano S/X: The Ledger Nano S and Nano X are two popular hardware wallets that support Cardano. They are both small, portable, and easy to use. You can connect them to your computer or smartphone and manage your Cardano using the Ledger Live app.
Trezor Model T: The Trezor Model T is another popular hardware wallet that supports Cardano. It is a little more expensive than the Ledger Nano S/X but offers a larger screen and touch interface. You can manage your Cardano using the Trezor web wallet or third-party apps like Yoroi.
Daedalus: Daedalus is not a hardware wallet but a desktop wallet that allows you to store your Cardano on your computer. It is developed by IOHK, the same company that created Cardano, and offers a high level of security. You can also use Daedalus to stake your Cardano and earn rewards.
Yoroi: Yoroi is a mobile and desktop wallet that supports Cardano. It is developed by EMURGO, one of the companies behind Cardano, and offers a simple and user-friendly interface. You can use Yoroi to manage your Cardano and stake it to earn rewards.
When choosing a hardware wallet, it is important to consider factors like security, ease of use, and compatibility with your device. It is also a good idea to buy your hardware wallet from a reputable vendor and follow best practices for storing and using it.
The best option for storing any cryptocurrency would be to use a hardware wallet. These are pieces of hardware that store the private key to your coins offline.
Today, there are two leading hardware manufacturers to choose from – Ledger and TREZOR. Both companies have different models of hardware wallets that will get the job done.
If you want deeper insights on specific models, you can read my Ledger Nano X review or my TREZOR Model T review.
Cardano Software Wallets
Cardano (ADA) is a popular cryptocurrency that uses a proof-of-stake consensus mechanism. As with any cryptocurrency, it is important to keep your Cardano secure, especially if you hold a significant amount of it. One way to do so is by using a software wallet, which is a digital wallet that stores your private keys on a device like a computer or smartphone.
There are several software wallets that support Cardano. Here are some of them:
Yoroi: Yoroi is a popular software wallet that supports Cardano. It is available as a mobile app and as a browser extension for Google Chrome, Firefox, and Edge. Yoroi is user-friendly and offers a simple interface for managing your Cardano. You can also use Yoroi to stake your Cardano and earn rewards.
Daedalus: Daedalus is a desktop wallet that supports Cardano. It is developed by IOHK, the same company that created Cardano, and offers a high level of security. Daedalus allows you to store and manage your Cardano on your computer, as well as stake your Cardano to earn rewards.
Atomic Wallet: Atomic Wallet is a multi-cryptocurrency software wallet that supports Cardano. It is available as a desktop and mobile app and offers a range of features, including support for over 500 other cryptocurrencies, a built-in exchange, and staking capabilities.
Exodus: Exodus is another multi-cryptocurrency software wallet that supports Cardano. It is available as a desktop and mobile app and offers a simple and user-friendly interface. Exodus also supports over 100 other cryptocurrencies and allows you to exchange your Cardano for other cryptocurrencies.
When choosing a software wallet, it is important to consider factors like security, ease of use, and compatibility with your device. It is also a good idea to follow best practices for storing and using your software wallet, such as using two-factor authentication, regularly backing up your wallet, and not sharing your private keys with anyone.
Hardware wallets cost money, so if you’re not sure how serious you are about cryptocurrencies and just want to get a taste of what they feel like, perhaps you would be better off starting with a software wallet.
A software wallet is a free program that lets you store your coins on your computer or mobile phone.
The easiest Cardano software wallets to get started with are undoubtedly Exodus, AtomicWallet and Guarda . All wallets are very intuitive. Exodus, Atomic Wallet and Guarda is available on desktop for Windows, Mac and Linux, as well as on mobile for both iOS and Android. If you want more information you can read my Exodus, AtomicWallet and Guarda review.
Step 2 – Find an Cardano (ADA) Exchange
Buy Cardano through Crypto.com
- Crypto.com is a cryptocurrency exchange company based in Singapore. As of May 2022, the company reportedly had 50 million customers and 4,000 employees. The exchange issues a token, Cronos. The company was initially founded in Hong Kong by Bobby Bao, Gary Or, Kris Marszalek, and Rafael Melo in 2016 as “Monaco”. In 2018, the company was renamed as Crypto.com following a purchase of a domain owned by cryptography researcher and professor Matt Blaze. Domain sellers valued the domain at US$5–10 million.
Buy Cardano through Binance
- Binance is a cryptocurrency exchange which is the largest exchange in the world in terms of daily trading volume of cryptocurrencies. It was founded in 2017 and is registered in the Cayman Islands. Binance was founded by Changpeng Zhao, a developer who had previously created high frequency trading software.
Buy Cardano through Coinbase
- Coinbase is a convenient and cheap way to buy Ethereum and the platform is open to 200+ countries). Coinbase will sell you CRO for a variable fee that depends on your payment method (credit cards have a higher fee than wire transfers), order size and market volatility. Here’s how you buy Ethereum on Coinbase: Open a Coinbase account Add your payment method (Credit card or bank account) Go to “Buy/Sell” and select the amount of Ethereum you desire Click “Buy Cronos”
Buy Cardano through Bitfinex
- Bitfinex is a cryptocurrency exchange owned and operated by iFinex Inc registered in the British Virgin Islands.Their customers’ money has been stolen or lost in several incidents, and they have been unable to secure normal banking relationships. Bitfinex was founded in December 2012 as a peer-to-peer Bitcoin exchange, offering digital asset trading services to users around the world. Bitfinex initially started as a P2P margin lending platform for Bitcoin and later added support for more cryptocurrencies.
Buy Cardano through Kucoin
- Kucoin is a global cryptocurrency exchange for numerous digital assets and cryptocurrencies. Launched in September 2017, KuCoin has grown into one of the most popular crypto exchanges and already has over 8 million registered users from 700+ countries and regions. According to Alexa traffic ranking, KuCoin’s monthly unique ranking is in the top 5 globally. Known as the “People’s Exchange”, KuCoin operates in Seychelles, providing users with multi-language and 24/7 customer service. Meanwhile, KuCoin has established local communities all over the world in South Korea, Japan, Spain, Italy, Vietnam, Turkey, Russia, India, and other regions, providing users with the most local services. Currently, 1 out of every 4 crypto holders in the world is with KuCoin.
Step 3 – Withdraw Your Cardano
Once you decide on an exchange, open an account and buy your Cardano. Make sure to withdraw the Cardano from the exchange to your personal wallet.
Never leave coins on an exchange, as you risk losing them all if that exchange gets hacked or shuts down (which has happened in the past) and always double check address before send coins because you can send the coins to wrong address .
Overview
Who Are the Founders of Cardano?
Cardano was founded by Charles Hoskinson, who was also one of the co-founders of the Ethereum network. He is the CEO of IOHK, the company that built Cardano’s blockchain.
In an interview Crypto Titans series, Hoskinson said that he got involved in cryptocurrencies back in 2011 — and dabbled in mining and trading. He explained that his first professional involvement in the industry came in 2013, when he created a course about Bitcoin that ended up being taken by 80,000 students.
As well as being a technology entrepreneur, Hoskinson is also a mathematician. In 2020, his technology company donated ADA worth $500,000 to the University of Wyoming’s Blockchain Research and Development Lab.
What Makes Cardano Unique?
Cardano is a unique blockchain platform that was designed with a focus on sustainability, security, and scalability. Here are some of the key features that make Cardano stand out:
Proof-of-Stake Consensus Mechanism: Cardano uses a proof-of-stake consensus mechanism called Ouroboros, which is designed to be energy-efficient and secure. Unlike proof-of-work consensus mechanisms, which require miners to solve complex mathematical problems to validate transactions, proof-of-stake allows users to participate in the network and validate transactions based on the amount of cryptocurrency they hold.
Two-Layer Architecture: Cardano has a two-layer architecture consisting of a settlement layer and a computation layer. The settlement layer is responsible for processing transactions and maintaining the ledger, while the computation layer is designed to support smart contracts and decentralized applications (dapps). This two-layer architecture makes Cardano highly scalable and adaptable to future developments.
Peer-Reviewed Research: Cardano is the first blockchain platform to be developed based on peer-reviewed research. The Cardano team, which includes experts in cryptography, computer science, and mathematics, conducted extensive research and analysis to develop the platform’s technical features and protocols. This rigorous approach has helped to ensure the security and reliability of the Cardano network.
Sustainability: Cardano is designed to be sustainable and environmentally friendly. Unlike other blockchain platforms that consume vast amounts of energy to validate transactions, Cardano uses a fraction of the energy required by proof-of-work systems. In addition, Cardano has a treasury system that funds ongoing development and maintenance of the platform, ensuring its long-term sustainability.
Decentralization: Cardano is committed to decentralization and empowering its users. The platform has a strong community of developers and users who contribute to its ongoing development and governance. In addition, Cardano’s treasury system allows users to propose and vote on development projects, giving them a voice in the platform’s future direction.
Overall, Cardano’s unique features make it a promising platform for the development of decentralized applications and the transfer of value. Its focus on sustainability, security, and scalability, as well as its commitment to decentralization and peer-reviewed research, set it apart from other blockchain platforms.
What Is Cardano’s Vasil Hard Fork?
Named after late Bulgarian mathematician Vasil Dabov, a prominent contributor to Cardano, the Vasil hard fork is touted as one of the most highly-anticipated upgrades for Cardano. The hard fork is the third development epoch of Cardano and is supposed to introduce several upgrades to the blockchain’s smart contract programming language Plutus and the network’s capacity.
The event was originally billed to happen in June 2022, but has been postponed a number of times.
Vasil will introduce five critical mechanisms to improve Cardano’s scalability and usability — CIP-31, CIP-32, CIP-33, CIP-40 and diffusion pipelining.
CIP-31, aka “reference inputs” will introduce a new kind of input that would allow developers to look at the result of an output without having to spend it. This would optimize transaction throughput and increase concurrency.
The CIP-32 proposal aims to enable inline datums. Rather than attach datum to datum hashes, which is the current state of things, CIP-32 would allow developers to attach datums to outputs. By implementing this update, devs can code scripts that directly point to the input, making room for simpler and quicker communication of datum values between users.
The Cardano Improvement Proposal 33 would allow reference scripts to be attached to outputs. As a result, the reference scripts are used to satisfy the validation requirements in place of the spending transaction. These reference scripts will make the validation process more efficient and reduce the size of transactions.
Meanwhile, CIP-40 features a brand-new type of output to transactions called collateral outputs, aimed at improving the overall scalability of the network.
Diffusing pipelining is Cardano’s consensus layer scaling solution. The improvement proposal will see more DApp deployment by overlaying some of the steps that a block needs to go through as it moves across the chain: this would allow for concurrent transactions.
How Many Cardano (ADA) Coins Are There in Circulation?
There is a maximum supply of 45 billion ADA — but at the time of writing, there was a circulating supply of about 31 billion. Five rounds of public sales of Cardano tokens were held between September 2015 and January 2017. Cardano price during its pre-launch sale was $0.0024, which represents an over 1000x return, given Cardano price now.
Approximately 2.5 billion ADA was allotted to IOHK once the network launched. Meanwhile, an additional 2.1 billion ADA was given to Emurgo, a global blockchain technology company that served as a founding entity of the Cardano protocol. Last but not least, 648 million ADA was given to the not-for-profit Cardano Foundation, which aims to promote the platform and increase levels of adoption.
Overall, about 16% of ADA’s total supply went to the project’s founders, with the remaining 84% being split among investors.
How Is the Cardano Network Secured?
Cardano is secured through an “environmentally sustainable, verifiably secure” PoS protocol that’s known as Ouroboros.
The project says that Ouroboros improves upon the security guarantees that are delivered by a PoW consensus mechanism while using substantially less power — claiming that it is four times more energy efficient than Bitcoin.
It is described as a blend of unique technology and mathematically verified mechanisms, with behavioral psychology and economic philosophy thrown in for good measure. Overall, the objective of Ouroboros is to achieve sustainable and ethical growth.
An incentive mechanism means that participants in the network are rewarded for their involvement.
What Is Cardano’s Alonzo Upgrade?
On Sept. 12, Cardano released its highly-anticipated Alonzo upgrade. Following the upgrade, the blockchain network can now support a wide range of crypto applications, including non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and smart contracts.
According to the project’s founder Charles Hoskinson, Alonzo aims to introduce “programmability” to the network. He likened the upgrade to when JavaScript was introduced to web browsers and the transition from static web pages to the likes of Facebook and YouTube.
Alonzo is named after American mathematician Alonzo Church, who is considered to be one of the founding fathers of computer science.
In addition to supporting NFTs and smart contracts, Cardano can now be used for decentralized exchanges.
In general, Alonzo puts Cardano in the same class as Ethereum, the world’s leading blockchain which supports other applications other than its native Ether token. Smart contracts, for instance, are one of the cornerstones of the decentralized finance sector — and Cardano now supports smart contracts.
In February 2022, the number of Cardano wallets broke the three million milestone. Since December 2020, it has surged by 1,200%, from 190,000 to over 3,000,000. This coincided with an increase in smart contracts following the Alonzo Upgrade, and Cardano surpassed the 1,000 smart contracts milestone on Jan. 27, 2022.
Another indicator of the ecosystem’s explosive growth is developer activity: Cardano boasted the most developers contributing to its Github, beating out more developed blockchains like Solana. On average, more than 50 contributions are submitted to its repo per day.
However, the network is still struggling with implementing its smart contracts, and users had complaints about a sluggish launch of its SundaeSwap decentralized exchange in January 2022.