Cardano (ADA)
Cardano is a security focused blockchain built on a foundation of peer-reviewed research. Cardano's goal was to create a platform for decentralised applications and smart contracts that can be processed with a technique called formal verification. This allows logical proof of the correctness of code and smart contracts, for applications where value is high and security is paramount. In addition, Cardano uses a layered approach that separates accounting of value from all other smart contract and computation activity. This means functionality can be added to smart contract capabilities without changing the protocol responsible for the cryptocurrency. The Cardano project uses a coin called the Ada.
Mining/Staking
The total long-term supply of Ada is capped at 45 billion coins. To date, 31.1 billion have been issued (20% of those to the three companies in the development team). The last 13.9 billion Ada will be minted after the launch.
Development Team
Cardano is made up of three companies who each have distinct roles in the project. The Cardano Foundation is a Swiss non-profit and guardian of the Cardano ecosystem and community. It aims to work proactively with governments and regulatory bodies, as well as form strategic partnerships with enterprises and other open-source projects to further global adoption of the technology. IOHK is an engineering and technology company committed to using peer-to-peer innovations to provide financial services to three billion people that don't have them. This group is contracted to design, build, and maintain the Cardano platform until 2020. Finally, Emurgo is a company formed to integrate, develop and support businesses who want to utilise Cardano's decentralised blockchain. Unfortunately, the team link below does not get into anything more personal than this information.
Criticisms, Caveats, and Competitors
A common criticism of this project is that it is not a fully functional blockchain at the present time, despite the fact that the theoretical research has been extensive.
Additional Resources
The project's main website: https://cardanofoundation.org
Link to Wikipedia Page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardano_(cryptocurrency)
Link to Reddit Community: https://www.reddit.com/r/cardano
Link to Twitter account: https://twitter.com/cardanocom
Link to Team information: https://www.cardanohub.org/en/team
Link to data on Live Coin Watch: https://www.livecoinwatch.com/coins/ADA
Whitepaper: https://whycardano.com