Cardano claims to be the first smart contract blockchain that has been developed in close coordination with researchers, academics, engineers, and existing financial institutions. One of Cardano's first markets is targeted at the subscription based market where the project aims to be a solution to the problems felt by this industry by enabling micro transactions powered by blockchain technology. Cardano is making a blockchain upgrade in May 2020 to transition from a “static” and federated system into a dynamic and completely decentralized blockchain. Cardano has also been design to host smart contracts and decentralized applications to build on top of the base layer of the blockchain. The project has had a promising start, and I'll be watching the roadmap closely to see if the project can succeed and gain user adoption.