Working with Cardano
Cardano in use
- transactions on Cardano in 30 days
- 773,339
- attributed to showcased apps
- 290,148
- curated apps to explore
- 103
- years on mainnet
- 9
Snapshot of the 30 days from September 6 to October 6, 2026.
Most active app per category, by on-chain transactions in the same period.
What makes Cardano different?
Predictable by design
Extended UTXO model
A Cardano transaction spends specific outputs and creates new ones, so its result and its fee can be checked before it is submitted. One transaction can have many inputs and outputs, paying several recipients or settling several trades together. Fees follow a fixed formula set by protocol parameters, not an auction.
Staking without strings
Non-custodial, liquid staking
Delegating ada to a stake pool never moves it out of your wallet. There is no lock-up period, no minimum amount to delegate, and no slashing: the protocol cannot take your ada as a penalty. Registering your stake key takes a refundable deposit, and you can spend or re-delegate at any time.
Governed on the chain itself
On-chain governance and treasury
Protocol changes, treasury spending and even the constitution are proposed and decided on-chain. Ada holders take part by delegating their voting power to a representative or by registering as one themselves. Stake pool operators and a constitutional committee provide checks and balances.
Backed by research
Peer review and formal methods
Cardano's core protocols were designed as academic research first, reviewed by other cryptographers, then implemented. The node is written in Haskell and the ledger is built with formal methods, so the code can be checked against its specification.
Latest News
Stay up to date with the latest developments, announcements, and community updates from the Cardano ecosystem.
Open Wallet Standard adds Cardano support in v1.4.3
WingRiders built the integration with IOG and the Midnight Foundation, handling Cardano's separate payment and stake keys, transaction signing, and Koios balance lookups.
Cardano Foundation's .ada bid advances in ICANN's New gTLD Program
The application cleared Reveal Day and now faces technical, financial, and operational evaluation, with delegation of new top-level domains expected between 2028 and 2030.
Node 11.1.3 becomes the recommended SPO release as CAP-12 opens for review
Every SPO should run 11.1.2 or later, the first constitutional amendment for the hard fork adds the new Dijkstra parameters, and treasury withdrawals moved into USDM.
Petrobras traces aviation fuel and renewable diesel claims on Cardano
A Book-and-Claim model ties aviation fuel certificates to verifiable claims, and production, transport, and use checkpoints cover renewable diesel, both with PUC-Rio's Ledger Labs.
CIP-113 programmable tokens merge into the main CIP repository
Programmable tokens carrying on-chain transfer rules clear their final review, node 11.1.3 fixes IPv4 decoding, and Cardano marks nine years since genesis.
Cardano Academy content joins UCLA Anderson blockchain coursework
The multi-year partnership places Cardano education in UCLA classes from 2027, adds five sponsored fellowships for early-stage companies, and includes a Web3 masterclass with sponsored certification.