Smart contracts present a standard approach to expressing complex interactions between two or more parties willing to exchange currencies or data in a decentralized way. Smart contracts are effectively automated digital agreements on a blockchain. Written in code, they can track, verify and execute the binding transactions of a contract when predetermined conditions are met. To…

Layer 1: definition

Imagine a wedding cake, with different tiers -layers, if you will-, and the figurine of a couple on top. That beautiful cake rests on a solid stand, the base. For all intents and purposes, that robust and solid cake stand is the first layer (layer 1) that supports the cake infrastructure. You can probably see where this is going. In a blockchain, layer 1 is…

For more details about staking and delegation, read 'Staking is the bedrock of Cardano'.

Each month, a few more Cardano stake pools are being created, so far bringing the total number of active pools to more than 3,000. At the start of 2021, there were about 2,000. The ada is staked from 1.2 million wallet addresses. In the process, the level of delegation has increased to almost 74% of all the ada in circulation. That’s some achievement, but it still leaves a…

Before you start, read:

• Part 1: Cardano's foundational research overview
• Part 2: Overview of the research enabling smart contract support on Cardano
• Part 3: Research overview: tokens, stablecoins, and fees

Previous blog posts delved into the foundational research that enabled Cardano’s multi-functional ledger support for expressive smart contracts and native assets.

As part of the Basho development phase, Cardano is undergoing steady upgrades and optimizations for increased scalability and interoperability. The ‘How we are scaling Cardano in 2022’ post reflected on Cardano’s scalability goals, and also discussed interoperability and the role of sidechains…