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Get started with the technical concepts

To get the most out of the Cardano Developer Portal, you should have programming experience and a basic understanding of blockchain concepts such as UTxO, transactions, addresses, key derivation, and networking.

Unspent Transaction Output (UTxO)​

UTxO or Unspent Transaction Outputs are how ada moves around the Cardano network. Learn how they work in the Cardano ledger.

Transactions​

Learn what is inside the guts of a Cardano transaction. We show how unsigned and signed transactions look like, and we cover how signing works.

Addresses​

Cardano Addresses are used as destinations to send ada on the blockchain. We break them down into their parts and show how they're created.

Transaction Fees​

Understand how transaction fees are calculated on Cardano. Brief coverage of the topics reserve and treasury.

Mnemonic seed phrase (BIP39)​

BIP39 is the standard for creating a mnemonic seed phrase for wallets. In this video, we break down how it's created from randomness on Cardano.

Key Derivation​

Key Derivation is the process a wallet uses to go from a mnemonic phrase to a whole set of keys and addresses that the wallet controls.

Block and transaction propagation​

Learn how transactions make it from the mempool into blocks and how blocks move around the network.

Networking​

We answer your questions about how nodes on Cardano talk to each other. Learn about TCP Sockets, mini-protocols and the future of P2P.

Cardano Improvement Proposals (CIP)​

The Cardano Improvement Proposal (CIP) process allows the community to interact with the Cardano Foundation to improve the Cardano ecosystem in a formal way.

Slot Lottery​

In this video, we describe exactly how a stake pool on Cardano gets elected to make a block.

Slot Battles​

On Cardano, slot battles happen when two pools try to make a block in the same slot (at the same time). We break down how the blockchain determines which block should win and what is the "correct" source of truth on the blockchain.

Catalyst Voting​

What is Catalyst voting, how to register, how to vote and why you should participate.

Franken Addresses​

Franken Addresses are a way to register additional pledge to a pool without registering a second owner on the blockchain.

NFT​

Non-Fungible Tokens on cardano are native assets that represent immutable art or physical things.

Catalyst Voting Registration​

How does the Catalyst voting registration on the side-chain work?

Epoch Nonce​

The epoch nonce allows you to calculate leaderlogs for your stake pool on Cardano.

Guaranteed Transaction Delivery​

How dropped transactions happen on cardano and how to ensure we always deliver them into blocks.

SundaeSwap & Merkel Trees​

Learn about the SundaeSwap ISO and who Merkel Trees work.

DripDropz & Phyrhose​

DripDropz, the token AirDrop vending machine, powered by Phyrhose.

P2P Networking​

Learn about Byron era network, Shelley era network, unidirectional (Half-Duplex) connections, the Topology Updater, manual P2P vs. automatic P2P.

TPS vs. eUTxO​

Which is better, high transactions per second or eUTxO?

Network Congestion​

How does network congestion happen? What are mempool errors?