The Ouroboros consensus protocol breaks time into 20-second slots. To understand why that matters, let's talk about scalability. During that time, the Cardano developer team plans to implement Ouroboros Hydra, a version of the PoS consensus mechanism that could theoretically boost throughput to 1 million transactions per second (TPS). Looking ahead, the fourth and fifth phases - which have not yet been scheduled - will address scalability and governance. Currently, very few dApps are live, but some 4,000 developers have projects in the works, meaning Cardano could be a thriving ecosystem in the not-too-distant future. In September 2021, the third phase added support for smart contracts, meaning decentralized applications (dApps) and decentralized finance (DeFi) products can now be deployed on the Cardano blockchain. That term refers to an ancient Egyptian symbol depicting a dragon eating its own tail, meant to represent infinity. During that period, Cardano went live featuring a unique proof of stake (PoS) consensus protocol known as Ouroboros.
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They focused on building the foundation and decentralizing the network. In fact, the project itself is broken into five distinct phases: Byron, Shelley, Goguen, Basho, and Voltaire. However, the Cardano developer team has taken a more tactful approach to building the platform, frequently submitting research papers for academic peer review. Like Ethereum, Cardano is a programmable blockchain, meaning it was designed to support smart contracts (i.e., self-executing computer programs).