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Highlights
- Cardano, also known as the 'green coin', has climbed over 1,400% in a year.
- It facilitates peer-to-peer deals using its in-house digital currency, ADA.
- The digital currency's market cap has surged past the US$2 trillion mark.
Cardano, the digital currency, has taken over Binance’s native digital coin as the world’s third-largest cryptocurrency, as its price touched an all-time high.
At a current market capitalisation of US$88 billion, it is almost 5% more than that of fourth-placed, Binance. The digital asset is trading at US$2.74 each.
In the last 24 hours, as the cryptocurrency rallied, its market cap even touched US$90 billion.
The digital currency market has been rallying in the last fortnight with the total market cap surging past US$2 trillion. Bitcoin and Ethereum have been leading after they plummeted in mid-May. Meanwhile, some of the other new altcoins have also rallied of late.
On a year-to-date basis, the cryptocurrency has returned over 1,400%.
What is Cardano?
An open-source and decentralised blockchain, Cardano facilitates peer-to-peer deals using its in-house digital currency, Ada. It was founded in 2015 by the person who co-founded Ethereum as well – Charles Hoskinson.
Though it was founded in 2015, it was launched only in 2017. After its launch, Cardano was touted as a third-generation blockchain -- following Bitcoin and Ethereum as the first and second generations, respectively. It aims to provide a more scalable, secure, and efficient alternative viz a viz Ethereum and other decentralised application platforms.
Cardano is considered a direct rival of Ethereum and Solana. The ongoing price surge came after the upcoming ‘Alonzo’ upgrade was announced.
The update which is set to be launched in September is expected to introduce smart contracts to the blockchain.
What is this decentralised app?
Decentralised applications, also known as dapps, are similar to applications on a smartphone. However, the main difference is dapps run autonomously without any third-party intervention. Dapps usually keep running in the background. In a bid to achieve autonomy by using smart contracts, computer programs are specifically designed to perform a function when certain predetermined conditions are met.
But why have Cardano prices rallied?
Cardano has an intrinsic advantage over other digital currencies: reputation as a “green coin”. It actually attracts cryptocurrency enthusiasts who want to engage with environmentally friendly and sustainable digital assets.
But then there has to be a certain trigger for the current bull-run at markets. It got a boost after the coin was authorised to list in Japan, considered to have one of ‘the most demanding listing criteria worldwide’. It got listed in Japan Wednesday.
