What is Cardano?
A proof-of-stake blockchain: a public ledger for transactions, native assets, smart contracts and on-chain governance.
LEARN THE CARDANO ECOSYSTEM
EXPLORE/CARDANO
LEARN THE CONCEPTS. FOLLOW GOVERNANCE. EXPLORE THE DATA.
Understand how Cardano works, how its governance operates, and what the current ecosystem data shows — then follow through to the projects and tools behind it.
NEW TO CARDANO? START HERE
Four places to begin, in plain terms — then use the rest of this page and the directory to find real, current tools.
Cardano's origins
How Charles Hoskinson, Jeremy Wood and the three founding entities fit into Cardano's beginning — and how the network evolved toward community governance.
Cardano Foundation
An independent entity supporting Cardano's growth, including education through Cardano Academy.
Cardano Docs
Official technical documentation for building on and using Cardano.
Cardano + ADA
Cardano is a proof-of-stake blockchain. ADA is its native currency: it pays transaction fees, participates in staking and governance, and is the base asset used across much of the ecosystem.
START HEREWallets + custody
A wallet manages the keys that authorise transactions; your ADA and native assets remain recorded on-chain. The important distinction is who controls the signing keys and how safely recovery credentials are stored.
LIVE PROJECT LINKSStaking
Cardano holders can delegate stake to a stake pool while keeping custody of their ADA. Delegation helps determine block-producing stake and can earn protocol rewards; it is not the same as transferring coins to the pool operator.
ON-CHAIN CONCEPTNative assets + policy IDs
Tokens and NFTs can exist directly on Cardano's ledger. A policy ID identifies the minting policy; combined with the asset name it lets users distinguish the intended asset from lookalikes with the same ticker or display name.
VERIFY IDENTIFIERSDEX + DeFi
Cardano DeFi includes decentralised exchanges, aggregators, lending and other financial protocols. The eUTXO model changes how transactions and liquidity interactions are constructed, but users still need to verify the protocol and asset they are interacting with.
ACTIVE TOOLSGovernance + DReps
Cardano's on-chain governance allows governance actions to be proposed and voted on. ADA holders can delegate voting power to a DRep or participate through the governance mechanisms available to them.
PARTICIPATIONBuilding on Cardano
Developers can work at several layers: smart contracts, transaction construction, APIs, indexers and application frameworks. Aiken is a smart-contract language, while tools such as MeshJS and Blockfrost support application development and data access.
DEVELOPER PATHeUTXO, Hydra + Mithril
Extended UTXO is Cardano's transaction model for programmable state. Hydra explores high-throughput off-chain execution for specific use cases, while Mithril uses stake-based multi-signatures to create compact, verifiable certificates of Cardano state.
PROTOCOL CONCEPTSPARTICIPATE SAFELY
GOVERNANCE/CARDANO
UNDERSTAND. DELEGATE. PROPOSE. VOTE.
Cardano has on-chain governance for decisions about the network. ADA holders can participate through delegated representatives (DReps), while stake pool operators and the Constitutional Committee also vote on governance actions according to the action type.
ADA holders
ADA holders provide the voting power behind delegated governance. Start here to understand how governance works before delegating to a DRep — without transferring custody of your ADA.
DReps
Delegated representatives receive voting power from ADA holders and vote on governance actions. An ADA holder can also register as a DRep and represent themselves or others.
Stake pool operators
SPOs operate the infrastructure that validates transactions and produces blocks. Under Cardano governance they also vote on specified governance actions, alongside their network-operating role.
Constitutional Committee
The Constitutional Committee assesses whether governance actions are consistent with the Cardano Constitution. Its role is constitutional oversight rather than simply representing delegated stake.
Governance actions
Governance actions are on-chain proposals concerning the network. Different action types have different ratification requirements, so the relevant voting bodies depend on what is being proposed.
How to participate
Cardano.org's own guided pathway walks through the three governance roles in order — understand how governance works, delegate your voting power, or stand for a governance role yourself.
ON-CHAIN GOVERNANCE ≠ PROJECT CATALYST
These are related parts of the Cardano ecosystem, but they are not the same system. Cardano's on-chain governance handles governance actions concerning the blockchain and its constitutional governance process. Project Catalyst is Cardano's innovation-funding programme, through which proposals have historically competed for Treasury-backed funding.
INDEX:80's ₳ Treasury Funded view records confirmed historical Catalyst-linked funding evidence for indexed projects. It does not mean those projects have special governance authority, and historical funding is not an endorsement or proof that a project is currently active.
LIVE GOVERNANCE DATA
INDEX:80 does not yet publish live proposal counts, vote totals or DRep statistics. Those figures change and should come from a timestamped on-chain source rather than copied numbers. The next governance-data phase can use the same public-snapshot pattern as the Data page, with source and update time shown beside every metric.
GOVERNANCE-CATEGORY RECORDS
10 / 294 RECORDS- 01 GovTool Official Cardano governance tool for DRep registration, delegation and voting. GOVERNANCE ↗
- 02 CGOV Community-built Cardano governance dashboard and voting interface. GOVERNANCE ↗
- 03 DRepTalk Community forum for Cardano DRep discussion and governance debate. GOVERNANCE ↗
- 04 Project Catalyst Cardano's on-chain treasury and community innovation-funding system. GOVERNANCE ↗
- 05 Intersect Member-based organisation coordinating Cardano governance and technical stewardship. GOVERNANCE ↗
- 06 1694.io Cardano governance-focused publication/resource; scope needs confirming. GOVERNANCE ↗
- 07 Cardano Foundation Independent Swiss not-for-profit advancing Cardano as public digital infrastructure through ecosystem stewardship, adoption, education, standards and institutional engagement. GOVERNANCE ↗
- 08 Clarity Protocol Governance platform for Cardano communities providing proposals, voting, treasury workflows, contributor rewards and community operations. GOVERNANCE ↗
- 09 DRep Council Open Cardano governance coordination platform where DReps can join, debate, review proposals and participate in on-chain voting. GOVERNANCE ↗
- 10 Tempo Cardano governance app for DReps and ADA holders with DRep profiles, voting history and governance-action views. GOVERNANCE ↗
Reviewed INDEX:80 records associated with governance. Use ALL to return to the full directory.
NETWORK + MARKETS + ECOSYSTEM
DATA/CARDANO
PUBLIC DATA. SOURCED. TIMESTAMPED.
INDEX:80-native ecosystem facts are generated from the current Registry release and stay available without live services. Optional Cardano network and market snapshots load from named public sources when current enough; unavailable data stays unavailable rather than being silently converted to zero.
INDEX:80 STATIC SNAPSHOTAS OF 8 OCT 2026 UTCLIVE CARDANO DATA ENHANCES WHEN AVAILABLE
MARKETS
PUBLIC DATALIVE SOURCEOPTIONALLoads only when a current public snapshot is available.
ADA: CoinGecko / ecosystem market metrics: DefiLlama.
NETWORK
CHAIN DATALIVE SOURCEOPTIONALLoads only when a current chain snapshot is available.
CHAIN: Koios — distributed Cardano query infrastructure.
INDEX:80 ECOSYSTEM
DERIVEDACTIVE PROJECTS294CURRENT INDEX:80 RELEASE
PEOPLE198CURRENT PEOPLE RELEASE
GOVERNANCE RECORDS10ACTIVE GOVERNANCE CATEGORY
ARCHIVED RECORDS2RETAINED HISTORY · NOT ACTIVE
Derived from the current INDEX:80 Registry export and linked Catalyst funding records.
CARDANO TOKEN MARKET
MINSWAP| ASSET | PRICE | 24H | VOLUME 24H | LIQUIDITY | MARKET CAP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Live token-market data appears only when a current public snapshot is available. | |||||
Public Minswap metrics only. No portfolio data or trading signals.
SOURCES + DATA QUALITY
Core INDEX:80 ecosystem figures are generated into this static page from the governed release data. Optional live Cardano metrics read data.index80.com/cardano.json; if the live source is unavailable or an external fallback is too old, the static INDEX:80 snapshot remains visible and market/network data stays explicitly unavailable.
- INDEX:80 RegistryStatic ecosystem facts from the current governed release.
AVAILABLE WITHOUT LIVE SERVICESSOURCE → - External live sourcesMarket and network metrics are optional enhancements and appear only when a current public snapshot is available.
REGISTRY PROVENANCE
INDEX:80 also publishes immutable snapshots of its public project registry. Each snapshot remains available as plain JSON, while its SHA-256 fingerprint is anchored to Cardano transaction metadata so the published file can be independently checked later.
WHAT THIS IS — AND ISN'T
This is a public ecosystem observatory, not a trading terminal. The public data contains no wallet addresses, balances, holdings, private signals or account data. Market figures are informational snapshots and should be checked against their linked source before being relied on.