The founders of Cardano are experienced specialists who have proved to be successful in working on the cryptocurrency Ethereum. Cardano has a difference from Bitcoin, which public node uses the Proof of Work algorithm , and Ethereum, which public node uses a combination of Proof of Work and Proof of Stake algorithms. Cardano node confirms transactions by relying on the Proof of Stake algorithm. Cardano has two levels: on the first level, free nodes united in a blockchain, on the second level, decentralized smart contracts. The cryptocurrency Cardano uses payment units called ADA. In total, there can be no more than 45 billion ADAs, of which 25.9 billion ADAs are already in circulation. Further scaling of the project is provided by the technology Recursive Internet worked Architecture, RINA. Regular program code updates and security checks take place.

As in many other cryptocurrencies, public crypto nodes of the network cryptographically certify new blocks that are added to the Cardano blockchain. Cardano nodes are rewarded for creating block signatures at the end of a time period that the developers have called the era. Each epoch takes about 5 days. Each time it is a randomly determined ADA node which receives a reward. To do this, the ADA node is selected among the participants of one slot. The size of the reward for the Cardano node, which to date is 2000 ADA, will be gradually reduced to zero. To participate in receiving the reward Cardano node wallet must block a certain amount of coins. This contributes to the growth rate of ADA and protects the network from a possible attack 51%.

Cardano uses the Proof of Stake protocol called Ouroboros, which improves decentralization. Blockchain nodes provider, which will form the signature of the next block, is selected not only among nodes providers with the largest deposit, as it happens in the classic implementation of the Proof of Stake algorithm. Even the richest nodes provider will not be able to lead to network centralization, because the award can be given to both the large Cardano node and the set of small Cardano nodes. Thus, the algorithm does not favor the appearance of particularly large cryptocurrencies nodes and prevents the appearance of "trusts" or "cartels" that concentrate several rich ADA nodes. After updating the Ouroboros protocol, the Cardano cryptocurrency architecture became modular, which is convenient for integration with the cryptocurrency exchanges.

There are ADA wallets for Windows, Linux, and macOS. An ADA Storage Wallet becomes a full ADA node of the network, it keeps a full copy of the blocker. There are three types of the ADA node. Cryptocurrency transactions allow you to perform ADA node Edge. In order to take part in project management, the ADA node mCore is launched. Relay cryptocurrencies nodes transfer data between the ADA node mCore and the Internet. The developers of Cardano have a set of tools to monitor the state of cryptocurrencies nodes, which is called Prometheus. Also, the developers have a Grafana, an open-source set of analytical tools, and a visual representation of the state and productivity of cryptocurrencies nodes.

We continue to develop and improve the Daedalus software wallet for ADA coins. In the development of mobile wallets for Android and iOS. Cardano is studying the possibility of adding a protocol of anonymity zero-knowledge proofs, which will hide the transactions between the public nodes. Also, developers are planning to create sidechains, which will connect the public node blocks of various cryptocurrencies. First of all, sidechains will connect two layers of Cardano cryptographic software. It is planned that the new programming language Plutus will be a light version of Haskell and will allow writing smart contracts.