Exploring its brief history, Cardano’s development is organized into five eras - Byron, Shelley, Goguen, Basho and Voltaire. While each era focuses on adding core functionalities to the network, the work on each era, including research, prototyping and development take place consecutively.

IOHK was set up to start work on the development of the Cardano protocol in 2015 by Charles Hoskinson, one of the co-founders of Ethereum, along with Jeremy Wood. The mainnet launch of the blockchain took place in September 2017 along with the launch of the Byron era, the first iteration.

A hard fork in July 2020 led to the Shelley era when the Cardano network’s PoS consensus layer was introduced. It also brought about greater decentralization from the original network which was originally managed by the Cardano Foundation.

The most significant milestone achieved in Cardano’s development as of April 2022 was the Alonzo hard fork in September 2021, which empowered the network with smart contracts developed using Haskell programming language. This development enabled Cardano to run decentralized apps in a secure and scalable fashion, and sent the ADA price and market cap to record highs on the back of soaring investor optimism.

ADA is the native digital asset within the Cardano ecosystem. The name is an ode to 19th century mathematician Ada Lovelace by the developers, who is often credited as the first computer programmer in the world.

The ADA crypto is used to pay for transaction fees within the blockchain and can also be staked validators to increase the resilience of the blockchain. In return, stakers receive a percentage of rewards, making it a beneficial way to generate passive income for them.

As the Cardano blockchain platform evolves into a more decentralized entity, ADA will also go on to serve as the governance token of the ecosystem. Token holders will be empowered with voting rights, giving them a way to participate in the future development of the network.

Cardano’s ADA is one of the most liquid cryptocurrencies, enjoying high trading volume and market cap among crypto assets. It is also among the cryptocurrencies that enjoys a high interest among institutional investors, making it an attractive crypto to hold and trade.

Cardano (ADA) is available for buying on major cryptocurrency exchanges around the world. KuCoin is one of the best platforms where you can buy ADA. Here are the steps to do this:

1, Open an Account With KuCoin

Register for a KuCoin account, if you are not yet one of our users. After logging in for the first time, make sure to complete the KYC verification process to unlock access to all our services and offerings.

2, Add Crypto Funds to Your Trading Account

Now that your account is ready, it’s time to fund it with some cryptocurrency to start buying ADA. Head to KuCoin Fast Trade to convert your fiat currency into crypto trading capital.

You can buy crypto using one of more than 70 payment methods on our platform, including Visa, Mastercard and PayPal. Alternatively, you can buy crypto through the KuCoin P2P page via third party sellers on our platform.

3, Buy ADA With Existing Cryptocurrency

You can also buy ADA on KuCoin using your existing crypto funds. All you have to do is to transfer them from your external wallet into your KuCoin trading account to get started.

4, Trade ADA/USDT on KuCoin

Once your trading account is funded, you can head over to KuCoin’s Spot Trading section to look for the ADA/USDT cryptocurrency pair. Check the latest Cardano price, market cap, 24 hour trading volume and liquidity before placing your trade.

Enter the number of USDT you wish to exchange for Cardano’s ADA. Verify the number of ADA tokens you can receive and the trading fees you will be charged before clicking on Buy to confirm the order.

5, Receive and Store ADA Safely

A few minutes after your order executes successfully, your trading account will receive the ADA tokens you have bought. You can choose to continue holding them within your KuCoin account or you can send them to your external wallet for added security.