Cardano is one of the largest cryptocurrencies and ecosystems within the blockchain sphere. The Vasil upgrade is now completed aiming to increase Cardano’s throughput, enhancing smart contracts and dapp development.
- What is Cardano?
- What is ADA?
- Why is Cardano good for running dapps?
- What is Plutus?
- Writing smart contracts using Plutus.
- Useful links
Cardano is currently the eighth largest blockchain in terms of market capitalization. With a market cap of $15.65 billion, it ranks behind Bitcoin, Ethereum, BNB Chain, and XRP LEDGER and ahead of Avalanche, Polygon, and (excluding stablecoins).
As Cardano becomes one of the fastest-rising and most widely used blockchains in 2022, it becomes essential to understand how to develop decentralized applications (dapp) in Cardano. Today’s article will provide a brief introduction to this topic.
What is Cardano?
Cardano is a proof-of-stake blockchain network, providing dapp with a platform powered by a multi-asset ledger and verifiable smart contracts. For a comprehensive overview of Cardano’s basic information and features, read DappRadar’s Ultimate Guide to the Cardano blockchain.
Featuring scalability, interoperability, and sustainability, Cardano is designed to be the blockchain of choice for the large-scale, mission-critical dapps that will underpin the economy of the future.
Unlike most other blockchains, the creation of Cardano is based on peer-reviewed academic research. Anyone can access Cardano’s research and technical specifications, and all Cardano development activities are available to the public. This is a solid testament to Cardano’s ethos of openness and transparency.
What is ADA?
Making blockchain transactions usually requires users to pay transaction fees or gas fees. If blockchain is still new to you, we recommend you read DappRadar’s Ultimate Guide on what blockchain is.
The currency users need to pay depends on which blockchain network is used. In the Cardano blockchain, users spend ADA to pay the gas fees, which is Cardano’s native token. Users can use and transfer ADA on the Cardano blockchain like they use ETH on Ethereum.
Why is Cardano good for running dapps?
Cardano is considered to be a third-generation blockchain. Notably, it combines the attributes of previous generations, such as decentralization, open-source, and transparency, and continues to evolve to meet users’ arising needs. Furthermore, as a next-generation blockchain, Cardano’s solution is secure, scalable, and interoperable with other blockchains and financial institutions.
Scalability
Cardano is capable of processing a large number of transactions without congestion. Moreover, Cardano’s scalable nature provides higher bandwidth capabilities, which enables transactions to carry a significant amount of supportive data. To maintain these properties, Cardano is implementing various techniques and is working to introduce Hydra, which will enable multiple side chain functionality.
Interoperability
The popular blockchain is developed to empower cross-chain transfers, multiple token types, and commonly used smart contract languages. Cardano provides a multi-functional environment for financial, business, or commercial operations.
Sustainability
Apart from employing proof-of-stake consensus, Cardano introduced a treasury system controlled by the community to ensure sustainability. The community can maintain the continuous development of Cardano by participating, proposing, and implementing system improvements.
What is Plutus?
Plutus is Cardano‘s smart contract platform. It allows developers to write applications that interact with the Cardano blockchain. But, then, to program Plutus contracts, Haskell language is required. If developers are unfamiliar with Haskell, they can learn about Haskell with this link.
The powerful Plutus can allow all programming to be done from a single Haskell library. What does this mean? It lets users build secure applications, forge new assets, and create smart contracts in a predictable, deterministic environment. Moreover, developers don’t have to run a full Cardano node to test their work.
The following video provides a walkthrough of how to work with Plutus. Topics covered include:
- Forge new tokens in a lightweight environment
- Build smart contracts
- Support basic multi-sig scripts
The Plutus platform
Writing smart contracts using Plutus.
The Plutus contract consists of a part that runs on the blockchain network and a part that operates on the developer’s machine. To get familiar with the platform, developers can use Plutus Playground, an online editor and simulator, to get started with Plutus development. Follow this link to learn how to write a basic Plutus app in the Plutus Playground.
Cardano has launched the Pioneer Program to equip developers with skills in using Plutus smart contracts. In addition, it aims to accelerate the expansion of Cardano’s ecosystem. By entering the program, developers will gain early access to courses that will teach them the core coding principles of Haskell and Plutus.
Furthermore, the program will be highly interactive, featuring weekly videos, exercises, and Q&A sessions and exclusive access to the creators and leading experts in the language.
- Apply for the Plutus Pioneer Program
Useful links
- DappRadar’s Ultimate Guide to the Cardano blockchain.
- Cardano developer portal
- Plutus tutorials
- Get started with Haskell
- Plutus Playground
- How to write a scalable Plutus app
DappRadar will continue monitoring Cardano’s latest developments and will soon integrate Carnado’s ecosystem into our platform. Follow us on Twitter, Discord, and Youtube to keep up with the dynamic blockchain world.
