Mapping out the Cardano ecosystem

Quick Take Cardano is a proof-of-stake blockchain platform with a stated focus of bringing security and sustainability to decentralized financial applications and ecosystems.  The Cardano team is split across three independent Cardano-centric entities, including the Cardano Foundation, IOHK, and Emurgo. Cardano was funded by the ICO (initial coin offering) of its native ADA token, with a debuted market cap of $600 million which now exceeds $69 billion. Before the Alonzo hard fork, the Cardano Blockchain was limited in ability but now offers smart contract capabilities and support on its platform Users and developers can now deploy smart contracts on the Cardano Blockchain, which self execute upon meeting the contract’s predefined conditions, thereby gaining the ability to run dapps.