Cardano pumped over 10% today, reaching over $0.09 after weeks of hanging around $0.08. It also surged back into the top 10 of CoinMarketCap, overtaking MCO to land at #9 at the time of writing this. The hype around Cardano is real and it is building fast. Here's why Cardano is one of the hottest coins out there right now.

Upcoming Shelley Mainnet Release

On July 29th, Cardano will release its highly anticipate Shelley Mainnet bringing in a new era of Cardano's blockchain. After multiple delays, it appears that Shelley will finally be released as planned. Charles Hoskinson, the founder of Cardano, has publicly stated that Shelley will be releasing out on time without any delays.

So why is this hard fork so significant? The Shelley Mainnet will introduced something that Cardano holders have long been waiting for: staking.

Cardano Staking

With staking, Cardano holders can earn interest on their crypto without risk of losing their funds. Currently, expected annual return rates are around 4-7%. The implementation of staking will without a doubt increase the popularity of the coin. Furthermore, Cardano staking will be accessible to everybody. There will be no minimum amount to stake, which means anyone who has some Cardano can stake it. This is notably different compared to Cardano's main competitor, Ethereum, which will require minimum of 32 ETH (worth over $7000) to stake one Ethereum 2.0 comes out.

The hype around Cardano' Shelley and its staking program is real. The coin is pumping and expect it to continue to pump as hype and anticipation grows as we get closer to July 29th.