Conclusion
A cryptocurrency is more than the sum of its protocols, source code and utility. It is ultimately a social system that inspires, enables and connects people. Frustrated by the many half measures, failures and broken promises of past protocols, we set out to build something better.
This process is not simple nor have we ever believed it can finish. Social protocols continue indefinitely changing as people and society change. To be useful, we want to trap the power of evolution and port it into Cardano.
Evolution is not guided by a single hand or a grand design. It is a process of serendipity inspired by endless mistakes and problems. Cardano seeks to be the digital embodiment of this process — fit enough to be able to survive the markets of today and adaptive enough to evolve to meet the needs of the future.
The previous sections capture a brief view into how we have been approaching this goal. We have diligently tried to recognize cognitive biases, learn from history and follow a rigorous process. We have tried to balance the need for rapid development with formal methods that traditionally cannot move quickly.
It has been an extraordinary privilege to embark on this journey. In the past two years, we have already developed a provably secure proof of stake protocol, recruited a small army of Haskell developers and made Cardano’s development the concern of many talented scientists.
As we move from the laboratory to a deployed system in the wild, there will be growing pains, but our hope is that Cardano’s future could be summarized in a single anthropomorphized sentence. Cardano is a pragmatic dreamer that learns from its elders, is a good citizen in its community, and always finds a way to pay its bills.
We cannot know the future, but we are glad to be trying to make it a better one for everyone. Thanks for reading.