Charles Hoskinson, the founder of Cardano and CEO of Input Output Hong Kong (IOHK), believes that Cardano is positioned to grow exponentially in scalability and affordability, making it the ideal platform for the future global financial network. Hoskinson highlighted two key features, Hydra and Leios, that contribute to the network’s efficiency.
Hydra is a layer 2 protocol on the main network that aims to increase transaction processing capacity. It achieves this by allowing participants to open multiple channels and conduct off-chain transactions. This means that participants can make transactions between themselves without incurring fees for on-chain transactions. Once the transactions are completed, they are broadcasted to the main network for confirmation.
Unlike the Lightning Network used by Bitcoin, Hydra allows for the opening of multiple parallel channels without compromising transaction security or privacy. Cardano recently released the latest version of Hydra, supporting cardano-node v.8.9.0 and the Conway block format.
On the other hand, Ouroboros Leios is a new variant of Ouroboros, a provably secure proof-of-stake protocol. It aims to increase the network’s throughput without compromising security by leveraging idle nodes for computations between blocks.
Cardano’s aspiration to become the foundation of the global financial system comes after being labeled a zombie chain by Forbes, an accusation that Hoskinson strongly refuted.
In the market, ADA, Cardano’s native cryptocurrency, is currently trading at $0.4998, with an 8% gain in the past day and a 15% gain for the week.
For more information on Cardano and its features, refer to our recommended guides and tutorials.