Cardano ADA has been in the news recently, and not always for the right reasons. But IOHK (Internet Online Hong Kong) is seeking to turn that around, taking over community outreach duties from the now-defunct Cardano Foundation and announcing integration with hardware wallet leader Trezor.
Hardware wallets like Trezor and Ledger Nano S allow users to store private keys of various cryptocurrencies on a physical device, not connected to the internet. This lets investors hold their coins for indefinite periods of time, without the risk of their portfolios being hacked or their coins stolen. Cold storage has always been possible for Cardano ADA investors who buy Cardano then store it in paper wallets, but this solution is not as convenient as hardware wallet integration.
With the Trezor integration launching in the coming days, Cardano users are also awaiting Ledger Nano S integration, which should land before the end of the year. Trezor is also reportedly adding support for Monero XMR, Zcash ZEC, Zencash ZEN, and Stellar Lumens XLM.
cardano (ADA)Other Good News on Cardano’s Horizon
Cardano has been turning heads with other recent announcements. IOHK head Charles Hoskinson announced Cardano’s Shelley update in August. When Shelley drops, Cardano will be a fully decentralised and autonomous organisation (DAO).
What this means, practically, is that Cardano will have full multi-sig transaction functionality, a new light client mode, word-based Cardano addresses, enhanced wallet backend, incentive and consensus fees, Ouroboros delegation, and even a new voting platform for additional democratisation of the Cardano ecosystem. Cardano 1.3 will also soon be available for public testing. Cardano has also been recently listed on OKCoin and Cardano broker eToro.
All of these features will bring increased convenience and functionality to the Cardano ecosystem, while reducing friction for the performance of simple daily tasks. These changes will be felt by users and developers.
In the months to come, Cardano will begin communicating its plans to transition from proof of work (POW – mining) to proof of stake (POS – a non-energy-intensive consensus model). Ethereum is in the process of making this same transition. POS is thought necessary to make POW smart contract platforms fast enough to handle VISA level throughput – a benchmark commonly cited when evaluating a blockchain’s potential for mainstream worldwide applications.
It’s important for the Cardano community to see these projects coming to fruition. Cardano has drawn criticism over the years for promising much but delivering little. Despite this, Cardano development is intensive and the currency remains the 9th most valuable in the space, in market cap terms. If this latest batch of news leads to fruition for the blockchain, Cardano ADA prices could see major upward momentum in the not-distant future.
(*Information in this article should not be taken as investment advice.)
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