Cardano Foundation focuses on research-first approach which helps it deliver a more balanced and sustainable ecosystem than other blockchain companies. Cardano’s layered architecture separates the ledger of account values from the reason why values are moved from one account to the other. This separation makes smart contracts safer.
Cardano is named after the renowned 16th-century Italian mathematician, physician and astronomer, Girolamo Cardano. The cryptocurrency that powers the Cardano Network is called ADA, named after Ada Lovelace, a 19th-century mathematician who is recognized as the first computer programmer. Below is an Ai-generated photo of Lovelace and Cardano.

Cardano’s development is based on scientific theories, peer-reviewed research, and formal software testing and verification. It’s being developed in separate phases, each adding new functionality to the platform. Cardano links modern blockchain technology to historical figures in math and computing. Some of the names of the Cardano phases are: Byron, (Lord Byron, Ada Lovelace’s father), Shelly (after the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley), Goguen (after computer scientist Joseph Goguen), Basho (after Japanese haiku master Matsuo Bashō) and Voltaire.