... Ada Lovelace. The launch of the Cardano network was phased: the first phase (Byron) began in September 2017, enabling transactions and storage of ADA but without smart contracts. Following updates included Shelley (2020) – decentralization and the opportunity for ADA holders to participate in staking, and Goguen (2021) – the implementation of smart contracts, enabling Cardano to support dApps. Subsequent phases (Basho and Voltaire) focus on scalability (for example, the Hydra technology for increasing ...