Exchange on Cardano

Cardano addresses are Bech32-encoded and start with addr1. A regular wallet address (base address) is 103 characters long and carries both a payment key and a staking key. A shorter address without staking (enterprise) has 58 characters. Old Byron-era addresses start with Ae2 or DdzFF; they still work, but not every service accepts them. An address starting with stake1 is for staking rewards, and coins are not sent to it.

Cardano uses the UTXO model, like bitcoin: the wallet hands out new addresses on its own, and all of them belong to the same wallet. Any of them works for receiving. A transfer to a wallet or an exchange usually needs no memo.

Tokens on Cardano are native: the ledger itself tracks them, with no smart contract. A token is identified by its policy ID and name; a fake can copy the name, so check the policy ID. Every transaction output holding tokens must also carry a minimum amount of ADA, which depends on the size of the entry and is usually between 1 and 1.5 ADA. That is why tokens always arrive with a little ADA, and why sending them requires ADA in the wallet for both the fee and that minimum.

Fees are paid in ADA and depend on the size of the transaction. A Cardano slot lasts one second, and a block comes about every 20 seconds on average. Finality is probabilistic: each new block makes a transaction harder to reverse, and exchanges credit it after their own number of confirmations.