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What is Project Catalyst?

Project Catalyst was created by IOHK to drive innovation more effectively and to involve the global community even more in this process. From the beginning, IOHK has thus set itself the goal of gradually putting Cardano in the hands of the community and working closely with the people within this community. IOHK itself intends to be involved in the day-to-day operation of Cardano later on only at the request of the community. With such an international community of entrepreneurs, experts and professionals around the globe, a hitherto unknown source of inventiveness is revealed.

So anyone can contribute their ideas for the project on the Ideascale platform, have their idea voted on, comment on other projects and vote for them as well. This is to ensure that members also comment on and push the projects of other developers and that the main focus is not only on realizing their own project. The “Proposals” or proposals with the highest number of votes by the community are then financially supported by a specially established fund, so that they can be successfully realized by the authors. All Cardano community members can influence the voting process, because every vote counts. The more constructive the feedback, the more likely it is to achieve the strategic goal. The Catalyst team also developed a guide for behavior and feedback within the community. If violations occur, “offenders” will be warned or banned to protect the project, Cardano, and the community. The forum should remain a place for engaging discussions without stifling the exchange of ideas and creativity.

The goal of the program is, among other things, to achieve concrete results from the funds. This requires determining how many developers, founders, companies and DApps the individual ideas ultimately generated. The reward system for votes on innovative proposals and the reminder function for future ballots are intended to ensure that interest in voting for new ideas remains permanently high within the community. Cardano thus continues on its path to becoming the most decentralized blockchain protocol with full scalability, interoperability and sustainability.

What will be voted on?

After you have successfully registered for voting, you can start the Catalyst Voting App and begin voting. You will then have 10 days to cast your vote. It is important that you take your time and understand your vote and its implications, as this will determine the future direction of the Cardano ecosystem.

Knowing that there are so many proposals out there competing for your attention and votes will be very challenging for each and every voter. The easiest way to start browsing the proposals is to use the community-created voter tool. Just give it a try.

Note 1: Each proposal is assigned a rating in the form of 1 to 5 stars. This rating represents the result of the Community Advisor (CA) review of all proposals. CAs were asked to review each proposal and give a rating in the three different categories – Impact, Reviewability, and Feasibility:

(1) I strongly disagree

(2) I do not agree

(3) I neither agree nor disagree

(4) I agree

(5) I fully agree

The scores from each of the three categories will then be averaged into a final score that will be visible within the app from all valid participating CAs. Please note that these are guidelines and you are free to select suggestions based on your own understanding and personal research. Consider this a useful tool to help you make your selection decision. For more information, please see the Community Advisor Guidelines.

What is there to consider?

If you have at least 500 ADA on your wallet at the time of the snapshot (a few days before the registration starts), you are eligible to participate in the voting. In order to receive rewards, your ADA must be delegated to a stake pool. If you have your ADA stored on a hardware wallet, make sure the firmware of your Ledger/Trezor is up to date. Make sure you have the latest version of the Cardano app installed on your hardware wallet so that the registration process is error-free.

Be sure to save the QR code generated by your wallet during registration and write down your PIN.

Your Voting Power represents the number of ADA you hold at the time of the snapshot.

Your ADA never leave your wallet when you register/vote.

The actual voting process runs through an additional app currently available for iOS and Android.

For participating in the voting process, all voters will receive rewards in the form of ADA.

How much ADA you receive for your participation depends on various factors:

How much ADA was in your wallet at the time of the snapshot.
Which funding round we are currently in, as the amount of the fund is constantly changing
Number of individual participants in the overall voting process.

Have fun exploring the many exciting projects that exist in the Cardano ecosystem and will be created in the future!

Cardano is a proof of stake blockchain platform that aims to enable the execution of a variety of blockchain apps (for example, smart contracts). Founded in 2015, the project serves as the foundation of the ADA cryptocurrency. The motivation behind the creation of Cardano is to address and optimize known difficulties of existing cryptocurrencies. Cardano is the first and so far also the only project that was developed based on scientific knowledge and approaches.

Who is behind Cardano and what is their vision?

Cardano is backed by a whole alliance consisting of the company IOHK (Input Ouput Hong Kong) of the former Etherium co-founder Charles Hoskinson, the Cardano Foundation founded in Switzerland and Emurgo, a Japanese company. IOHK will be responsible for the technical developments, design as well as construction and maintenance of the blockchain. The Cardano Foundation is the official “owner” of the blockchain and represents the Cardano project to the outside of the world. Emurgo is the company that develops and markets the commercial applications. 

Cardano vision

These three institutions have each been pursuing a vision of full decentralization since late 2017. Decentralization means that there is no intermediary, but that development is driven by the people who also build out the application capabilities. Cardano aims to create a technological platform on which financial applications can be developed and executed by anyone.

How does Cardano work?

Cardano is being called as the third-generation blockchain and aims to solve the scaling problems of the first (Bitcoin) and second (Etherium) generations. The blockchain works according to the Proof of Stake method. The algorithm behind the Proof of Stake method is called Ouroboros. Here, users (validators) invest a certain amount of ADA coins to signal their participation. This is how they demonstrate participation in the process and assign (stake) their coins to a preferred pool (Such as our Honey Stake). The validators of the pools then have to ensure that they are always online and generate new blocks on behalf of the participating stakeholders. This means that unlike the Proof of Work method, participants have the opportunity to indirectly participate in the validation process without being the true validators – for which they are compensated. 

Advantage to other cryptocurrencies

Cardano tries to address where other blockchains have their weaknesses: Scalability, compatibility and sustainability:

Scalability

Due to the nature of the blockchain, Cardano will be able to manage more than one million transactions per second (TPS) in the future. At the current time, this is more than 15 times more than VISA, for example, is capable of. For comparison, Bitcoin manages just 7 TPS and Etherium 15 TPS.

Compatibility

Currently, there is no compatibility between the individual cryptocurrencies within a blockchain. This is where Cardano wants to start and enable interaction between different cryptocurrencies. A good example of this is the use of WLAN. Let’s say a blockchain is your smartphone and you want to use WLAN, which in that case is the cryptocurrency. If the compatibility is not there, you will only be able to use WLAN at home. Your smartphone is not compatible for all other Wi-Fi networks. In this case, Cardano stands for a smartphone that is compatible for all Wi-Fi networks applied to transactions.

Sustainability

Another important advantage, is the significantly lower energy consumption as well as less computing power required. The higher the Bitcoin or Etherium rises, the higher the power consumption. This is because the more complex the puzzles, the more computing power is required. Cardano has developed the Proof of Stake method for this purpose. Unlike mining, staking at Cardano is not an individual task, but a collective goal. Thus, not only the user who alone generates the most computing power is rewarded, but also those who have staked (according to the number of held (staked) coins). This means that even users with few coins earn a reward and are rewarded for their work. The decisive factor is therefore not the single large pool, but the mass of smaller independent pools.

Possible use of Cardano

• Protection against counterfeiting in branded products or art trade
• Certification and verification of supply chains 
• Data protection in government processes, such as the secure digitization of official data, for example tax data, vaccination passports or health insurance data; authorities and states should be able to do without private third-party providers by using Cardano technology.
• Regulation in the pharmaceutical industry: protection against counterfeit or adulterated drugs
• Authentication of certificates, such as degrees and diplomas

What can we expect to see soon with Cardano?

Cardano has already evolved in many ways and has a broad community. Starting in August 2021, Cardano wants to take further steps forward and enable the transacting of smart contracts. These are computer protocols that either map or verify a contract or provide technical support for contract negotiation or settlement.

Conclusion 

Cardano is definitely a blockchain with a clear vision of knowledge and togetherness. The clear scientific route makes the project particularly interesting and attractive to the market. However, it should be noted that Cardano is not a short-term investment, but a long-term project. Those who are looking for quick money will therefore not find what they are looking for with Cardano. However, those who believe in the vision and are interested in sustainable growth will be rewarded with new development progress and sustainable growth with Cardano.