Cardano operates on a proof of stake model, using Ouroboros, the first provably secure proof of stake protocol yet written. You can read this and the other academic peer reviewed papers behind Cardano at https://www.cardanohub.org/en/academic-papers/

Thanks for this. Cardano has indeed been built from scratch. It is a security focused blockchain that harnesses the latest research and engineering insights to build a platform suitable for the highest value applications.

Built on a foundation of peer-reviewed research created through partnerships with the world’s foremost universities, Cardano aims to create a platform for decentralised applications and smart contracts that can be processed with a technique called formal verification. This allows logical proof of the correctness of code and smart contracts, for those applications where value is high and security is paramount. Cardano combines this with an innovative layered approach that separates accounting of value from all other smart contract and computation activity.

This means functionality can be added to smart contract capabilities without changing the protocol responsible for Ada holdings.

Cardano has a very strong academic heritage and is the first cryptocurrency to have one of its academic papers accepted at Crypto 2017, the leading cryptography conference. IOHK have research centres or partnerships with many of the top global academic institutions including the University of Edinburgh and the Tokyo Institute of Technology.

You can look at the code, visit the Cardano Hub, or read the philosophy behind the project to learn more.

It’s great seeing this interest in Cardano and Ada. I'm John O’Connor and I am Head of Communications at the Cardano Foundation. It's a very exciting time for us right now as we publicly launched Cardano on Friday and today began trading on Bittrex.

What is Cardano? Cardano is blockchain technology that harnesses the latest research and engineering best practices to build a system that will run decentralised applications, smart contracts and is fit to securely carry very high value.

Cardano is being built by IOHK, a leading technology company. Their international team of leading experts, academics and cryptographers have built Cardano over the past two years, inspired by the best features of existing cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin, Ripple and Ethereum. Of its many innovations, Cardano is the first blockchain to use a provably secure, proof of stake algorithm - the only one to have been academically peer reviewed by leading cryptographers through its acceptance to Crypto 2017, the world’s top cryptography conference. https://www.forbes.com/sites/amycastor/2017/08/23/at-crypto-2017-blockchain-presentations-focus-on-proofs-not-concepts/#35d474f67b70.

There is a wealth of information available to read on the Cardano Hub website. https://www.cardanohub.org/en/home/
Anyone who has questions about the project should come to our community channels listed below. The roadmap for future updates to the project will be shared very soon, so join the community to keep up to date!

Cardano Community Channels
Slack: https://cardano.herokuapp.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/cardanocommunity
Twitter: https://twitter.com/cardanocom
Reddit: https://reddit.com/r/cardano

It’s great seeing this interest in Cardano and Ada. I'm John O’Connor and I am Head of Communications at the Cardano Foundation. It's a very exciting time for us right now as we publicly launched Cardano on Friday and today began trading on Bittrex.

What is Cardano? Cardano is blockchain technology that harnesses the latest research and engineering best practices to build a system that will run decentralised applications, smart contracts and is fit to securely carry very high value.

Cardano is being built by IOHK, a leading technology company. Their international team of leading experts, academics and cryptographers have built Cardano during the past two years, inspired by the best features of existing cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin, Ripple and Ethereum. Of its many innovations, Cardano is the first blockchain to use a provably secure, proof of stake algorithm - the only one to have been academically peer reviewed by leading cryptographers through its acceptance to Crypto 2017, the world’s top cryptography conference. https://www.forbes.com/sites/amycastor/2017/08/23/at-crypto-2017-blockchain-presentations-focus-on-proofs-not-concepts/#35d474f67b70.

There is a wealth of information available to read on the Cardano Hub website. https://www.cardanohub.org/en/home/
Anyone who has questions about the project should come to our community channels listed below. The roadmap for future updates to the project will be shared very soon, so join the community to keep up to date!

Cardano Community Channels
Slack: https://cardano.herokuapp.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/cardanocommunity
Twitter: https://twitter.com/cardanocom
Reddit: https://reddit.com/r/cardano

It’s great that you guys are interested in Ada and the Cardano project! My name is John O’Connor and I am Head of Communications at the Cardano Foundation. It's a very exciting time for us right now as we publicly launched Cardano on Friday and today began trading on Bittrex. I would however like to address some posts in this thread which suggest that Cardano is a ‘scam’ and/or ‘pyramid scheme’.

Firstly please take a look at the press section of IOHK, our development partner. Multiple articles by mainstream media have been written about IOHK. To name a few, Business Insider, The FT, Forbes, Bloomberg and the Nasdaq Magazine (links to all these articles can be found on https://iohk.io/press/). IOHK have a global team of leading scientists, academics and researchers working on the Cardano project.

Cardano’s PoS, Ouroboros stands out as the first proof of stake algorithm that is provably secure, meaning that it offers security guarantees that are mathematically proven. Ouroboros is also the first cryptographic protocol to be peer reviewed at the world's top cryptography conference, Crypto 2017. Forbes wrote an article on Ouroboros being accepted at Crypto 2017, you can read it here: https://www.forbes.com/sites/amycastor/2017/08/23/at-crypto-2017-blockchain-presentations-focus-on-proofs-not-concepts/#35d474f67b70

The project has adhered to strict compliance standards, and there is a wealth of information available under the transparency tab on the Cardano Hub website. https://www.cardanohub.org/en/home/

I invite any users who have any questions about the project to actively engage with our community channels where Cardano staff will be on hand to answer any further questions.

Regards, John O’Connor

Cardano Community Channels
Slack: https://cardano.herokuapp.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/cardanocommunity
Twitter: https://twitter.com/cardanocom
Reddit: https://reddit.com/r/cardano