This article is the last of a 4-part article series that covers blockchain generations and why Cardano is considered a third generation blockchain. If you haven’t checked it out already, here’s part 3 of the article, which covers advantages of Cardano over earlier blockchain generations
Up to now, we have reviewed different blockchain generations and examined their designs from a technical viewpoint, with a detailed eye on how Cardano, as a third-generation family, differentiates itself from its predecessors. However, the real power of technology can only be revealed and felt at the economic and social levels if it solves real-world problems. In this section, we look into how Cardano is transforming different sectors.
- Financial Inclusion — The Cardano ecosystem is revolutionizing accessibility to decentralized financial services for investors who want to lend assets and borrowers who want to invest in particular assets in their portfolios. Lenfi Protocol is the largest decentralized lending protocol, having over 30 million ADA borrowed. Users can access shorting, longing, arbitrage, liquid farming, and token sales, among other utilities, in their list of earning options, all unified in one platform.
- Supply Chain Management — Cardano is improving supply management by giving users transparency and traceability for goods. One notable project in this sector is Scantrust, a QR code generation platform that leverages Cardano for low-cost traceability. Beefchain is another product that helps ranchers track beef from farm to sale. And yet, we have Baia’s Wine, which stores the supply chain data from farms to tables.
- Healthcare — By integrating digital services into the healthcare sector, Cardano is a decentralized and accessible platform for tamper-free data management and a global payment gateway. Cardanohealthinnovation is an example platform where medical practitioners share the best industry practices, their research, and development to contribute to a global knowledge base that improves patients’ lives worldwide.
- Agriculture — Cardano provides reliable and verifiable information about crops, lands, farm inputs and outputs, and market conditions. Solutions like Atala Prism are available to prove land ownership and identities, Marlowe is there for access to financial services, Project Catalyst is there for accessing grants that support agricultural development, Plutus in automating farming operations like irrigation, and Cardano’s Metadata solution as a market entry point or customer loyalty building.
- Voting systems — Whether on-chain or off-chain, Cardano provides a set of frontend and backend services to facilitate voting through the Cardano ballot. In the real world, several states in the U.S.A. have approached the Cardano Foundation to set up a blockchain voting system for the coming general elections, which are due on November 5th, 2024.
- Education — The education system has never been incentivized to participate in. Cardano is revolutionizing digital currency for better rewards and distribution, creating an engaging environment, eliminating the burden of manual work, and providing an easy way to benefit from efforts. A Model School is empowering the world through blockchain-powered education.
- Identity management — In developing African countries, Cardano is being used to provide decentralized identities that are cross-verified from banks to institutions. These identities help unbanked citizens access financial services, education, and employment. A good example is the Atala Prism project in Ethiopia, which provides Cardano IDs used by schools and the government in collaboration to improve education.
- Climate change — To make the world a better place for humans and animals, Cardano combines passion and efforts to create solutions for humanity’s biggest threat and challenge, climatic change. The Cardano4climate movement has organized workshops to educate the world at events like the Cardano Summit in Lausanne, Switzerland. This team has also plotted impactful projects focused on Cardano sustainability, regenerative agriculture, carbon neutrality, and others.
- Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) — Accounting for over 170 NFT tools and marketplaces on Cardano, digital art has been on the rise in the form of NFTs. This innovation has caught the interest of creators, collectors, artists, and tech enthusiasts. Cardano makes digital art secure and accessible at lower cost and transactions. This simplicity opens up new opportunities.
- Decentralized Finance (De-FI) — Developers are always excited about building software that anchors on blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies to allow people to transact with each other without third parties. Cardano has over 20 decentralized exchanges (DeXes) and over 10 launch pads and accelerator programs. These floors allow you to trade, stake, and provide liquidity for various assets.
- Governance — Through Project Catalyst, the Cardano ecosystem showcases its decentralized governance model. Stakeholders practice liquid democracy by voting on projects that improve or shape the project to a better future. Users have the freedom to delegate their staking power. This model is a true example of community-driven governance.
- Gaming — The metaverse and other Web3 games have been among the most promising uses of blockchain technology. By creating immersive interactions with automated rewards in the form of native tokens, gaming is projected to be a new source of income. For developers, it is a chance to work on new, exciting challenges by bridging their Web2 knowledge to a new realm with actual ownership and cross-chain compatibility. Paima Gaming engine is one innovation on Cardano that helps developers build decentralized games without learning new programming languages.
In the above list, we have shown you several applications of the Cardano blockchain in different sectors and given a practical example for each. This is just the tip of the iceberg. Whatever problem you may wish to solve using blockchain technology, the Cardano network has plenty of tools to help you build fast and bring your ideas to life.
The Challenges and Criticisms of Cardano
Cardano’s strategic, research-based approach to development has been one of its outstanding strengths among other blockchain generations. This cautious approach ensures that the blockchain is shaped through collaborations of academic research and that it meets all security standards and scalability needs. However, it comes with a price of slow development in contrast to many projects emphasizing quick releases and new features. On the brighter side, by sharing the research globally, Cardano focuses on accountability and error checking before pushing changes or updates to live.
As a third generation of blockchain solving the trilemma problem of scalability, interoperability, and security, Cardano isn’t the only blockchain product that’s outset to give these. It faces competition from other entities like Polkadot and Algorand. While not the only players competing in the market, each has strengths and weaknesses. For instance, Polkadot has a keen focus on interoperability. This makes it a direct rival to Cardano’s focus on decentralization and an interoperable ecosystem. Polkadot’s architecture allows for parallel operation with other blockchains, a feature that puts Cardano under pressure. To keep up with this innovation, Cardano has sidechains under development. Shifting to Algorand, the goal is scalability and speed. Algorand provides more speed than Cardano, which might be a capture point now that Cardano has slower release cycles.
In terms of Adoption, Cardano is struggling to keep up with other networks like Ethereum, which has a larger developer community and dApp count. Developers might be inclined to move to a faster-paced environment, with the criticism that slow development puts Cardano at a disadvantage over competitors in the industry. Despite ambitious goals, Cardano is seeing relatively slower mass adoption. However, it would be technically incorrect to cite this, considering the massive number of partnerships and potential use cases under development in continents like Africa. In fact, Cardano is the leading solution provider that touches most African countries in a vast array of fields. Be it Agriculture, finances, transport, communities, or governance, Cardano is solving all unique problems.
Rather than citing it as criticism, the gap between vision and execution is the correct way to compare Cardano’s state with other blockchain networks from a real-world use perspective.
A Look into the Future of Cardano
In this article, we’ve walked through the evolution of blockchain technology through generations to where it is today. We have expanded on the underlying architecture the different generations have used to revolutionize payments and empower the digital world. We have also looked at the outstanding innovations that make Cardano an entirely unique product in the digital world alongside its practical innovations. Before closure, see how Cardano’s ADA compares with other hyped coins in the market. When the hype around other coins goes away, the coins inflate themselves. Essentially, the price and market cap graphs should go hand in hand or seemingly remain identical. Cardano obeys this rule; see the differences in the attached links below.
Random hyped coins that inflate themselves.
Cardano’s steady behavior. A true reflection of value and price in the market!
Blockchain technology has been on an ever-growing trajectory, as is its adoption. Cardano is a true and practical model of how combining science, research, and collaboration redefines how we solve real-world problems and what it means to spread across many domains in a unified ecosystem. By providing a resilient, secure, sustainable, interoperable, and decentralized ecosystem, Cardano calls upon every person to join hands using its financial operating system to power day-to-day endeavours.
As we move toward the future, a deep understanding of Cardano’s technical capabilities opens opportunities for innovation. Whether you are a student interested in delving into the programming space, an ordinary user starting their new financial journey, an entrepreneur looking to tap into the global market, a political leader looking to build a loyal following, a medical practitioner who seeks to share and document their research, an artist who seeks a secure way to sell their products, an experienced software developer looking for a worthwhile challenge or just a gamer looking for new ways to have fun, Cardano is open for you tap into its amazing experience. The future is bright.
If you are a developer, there are plenty of tools to build on Cardano. If you are a crypto enthusiast, there are endless opportunities to earn. If you are a geographer, observe the earth with Cardano applications. Cardano is worth exploring from the data perspective if you are a data analyst. Should you be a librarian, here’s how to publish books on-chain. For interesting games to play, explore the Cardano gaming ecosystem. And if you are just a curious fellow, ADApulse is your playground for learning about the Cardano blockchain.
