Cardano (ADA) price, chart and history
Cardano is $0.2461, down 3.11% in the last 24 hours. Market value $9.24 billion, rank #17.
About Cardano
Cardano is a blockchain network for running payments, digital tokens and self-executing programs called smart contracts, similar in purpose to Ethereum. Its coin, ADA, pays transaction fees, can be staked to help run the network in return for rewards, and lets holders vote on how the project changes and how its shared treasury is spent. Apps built on it include token exchanges, lending tools and identity or record-keeping pilots.
Work on Cardano began in 2015, led by Charles Hoskinson, an early Ethereum co-founder, and Jeremy Wood through their engineering company, now known as Input Output. The Swiss-based Cardano Foundation and the business arm Emurgo were the other two founding bodies. The network went live in September 2017. Since 2025, a community body called Intersect and elected representatives chosen by ADA holders have taken on a formal role in steering upgrades.
Cardano uses a proof-of-stake system called Ouroboros, which came out of peer-reviewed academic research, and its developers stress formal methods and careful, staged releases. Holders can delegate ADA to stake pools without giving up control of their coins. Critics argue this cautious approach made it slow to ship features and that app activity trails bigger rivals. Other risks include regulatory uncertainty (US regulators once alleged ADA was a security) and software bugs, such as a 2025 incident that briefly split the chain.
- Created by
- Charles Hoskinson and Jeremy Wood (Input Output)
- Launched
- September 29, 2017
- How it's secured
- Proof of stake (Ouroboros protocol)
- Supply
- Capped at 45 billion ADA
- Governance
- On-chain voting by ADA holders and elected delegates since 2025