- Cardano (ADA) has today been launched in Japan, allowing retail investors to access the coin from Japanese exchanges.
- Bitpoint is the first Japanese exchange to list ADA, making it one among the few cryptocurrencies listed in the country.
Cardano (ADA) has today launched successfully in Japan. Retail investors can now acquire the coin from exchanges where it was previously not available.
In a celebratory tweet, Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson said he had been waiting for this moment for a “very long time.” He thanked the community and all supporters of the launch. He even quoted a famous haiku from Japanese author Matsuo Basho, the most famous poet of the Japanese Edo period. The haiku is popular among many for bringing calm into a very hectic life.
Ada launching in Japan in ten minutes. I’ve waited a very long time for this day. Congratulations and thanks to the community there: A monk sips morning tea, it’s quiet, the chrysanthemum’s flowering.
Cardano progress
Now, Tokyo-based Bitpoint has become the first Japanese exchange to list Cardano. ADA joins other cryptocurrencies on the exchange such as Bitcoin (BTC), Tron (TRX), XRP, Ether (ETH), and Bitcoin Cash.
Reportedly, Japanese regulators have very strict rules that cryptocurrencies need to abide by before getting listed on their exchanges. For this reason, only a small number of crypto assets are listed in the country.
Charles Hoskinson gave a brief update on developments in the Cardano network via a live stream. “Everything is on schedule, things are looking good,” he said.
The Cardano team is also toying around hard fork and testnet, he added.
Market perspective
Dubbed the “Ethereum killer,” Cardano has long been seen as the solution to the high network fees on Ethereum. Following the Alonzo hard fork, Cardano will mark a huge milestone as it rolls out smart contracts on Sep. 12. As soon as the Goguen era ends with smart contracts, Cardano will enter the Basho era (named after the famous Japanese poet). During this time, the proof-of-stake network will work on its scalability and interoperability.
Ethereum, on the other hand, is currently migrating from the proof-of-work consensus mechanism to proof-of-stake. For many in the crypto community, this makes Cardano a notable competitor.
On top of that, Ethereum is the most utilized network for (decentralized finance) DeFi and smart contracts. Cardano’s soon-to-happen upgrade will hopefully place it at par with Ethereum in terms of allowing developer activity. Cardano will also be able to mint non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and automate lending among other use cases.
In the 24 hours leading up to Aug. 23, ADA surged 11 percent. With this, the coin achieved a new all-time high of $2.97. ADA is trading at $2.63 at writing time, having shaved 8.9 percent in the day.
