Inside 24 hours of Cardano'south testnet going alive, Cardano (ADA) holders take staked more than than five billion ADA coins, worth around $195 million.

On December. fifteen, IOHK took to Twitter to report that more than than 240 staking pools have gone online since Shelley went live, with virtually 120 staking pools during the first day of operation alone. According to Shelley'due south roadmap, IOHK is well on its way to reaching its target of 1,000 staking pools. They tweeted:

"Our incredible #CardanoCommunity have put in a remarkable effort this weekend, with over 240 pools (+ counting) getting ready for staking."

ADA holders accept been waiting expectantly for the launch of Cardano's Shelley incentivized testnet, in which participating users volition be able to earn real ADA rewards, which they will reportedly receive by the end of the testnet period.

The IOHK team also offers Shelly testnet participants a rewards computer, which lets them calculate the estimated amount they tin can earn from staking ADA tokens. For instance, users who stake 100,000 ADA, worth roughly $3,600 at writing fourth dimension, could earn around $260 per twelvemonth in staking rewards. Shelley mainnet will reportedly get live in early 2022, from which point staking will become available to all users.

For reference, staking is the process of locking funds in a crypto wallet to support the operations of a blockchain network, which in turn earns the participant rewards.

Cardano's merchant payment gateway went live

At the terminate of November, the Cardano Foundation launched AdaPay, an ADA payment gateway for merchants. Developed in collaboration with the enterprise-class fintech platform Coti, the solution allows merchants to accept ADA payments with "almost-instant" settlement in 35 fiat currencies straight in their bank accounts.