Mapping out the Cardano ecosystem

Quick Take
- Cardano is a proof-of-stake blockchain platform with a stated focus of bringing security and sustainability to decentralized financial applications and ecosystems.
- The Cardano team is split across three independent Cardano-centric entities, including the Cardano Foundation, IOHK, and Emurgo.
- Cardano was funded by the ICO (initial coin offering) of its native ADA token, with a debuted market cap of $600 million which now exceeds $69 billion.
- Before the Alonzo hard fork, the Cardano Blockchain was limited in ability but now offers smart contract capabilities and support on its platform
- Users and developers can now deploy smart contracts on the Cardano Blockchain, which self execute upon meeting the contract’s predefined conditions, thereby gaining the ability to run dapps.