Cardano Foundation, in collaboration with COTI, have released AdaPay, a payment solution that allows merchants to accept ADA and to receive fiat money on their bank accounts. However, merchants who integrate it with their payment system will be able to support only ADA.  The settlement of payments happens instantaneously.  The merchants will be able to convert the crypto to 35 different fiat currencies.

The procedure for making the payment using AdaPay is well explained in a video released by the foundation. QR codes are available for physical stores offering it as a point of sale system.  The payment gateway is now live for real-time use.

There has been a lot of hype around the balance check, the upcoming snapshot, and the release of the test net.

The Shelly era is all set to start.  The Shelly test net is provisionally set to be available for December 09, 2019.  A practice blockchain has been designed for the test before the upgrade, and it is all set to go live on December 09, 2019.

IOHK is currently building the Cardano, and they will be taking a snapshot of the current blockchain on November 29, 2019.  This will become the foundation of the upgraded blockchain.  Hoskinson has been avoiding giving dates about the final snapshot.  He was stating that a clear schedule will be available to help the users to prepare. On November 25, 2019, he announced the tentative date on Twitter. However, he also stated that there continues to be room for change; however, the date has fallen in line with the earlier predictions from the company. 

The incentivized Shelly Testnet will allow the holders to earn real ADA, which is the native currency of Cardano. The process of holding Cardano is known as staking.  Staking is done while maintaining the network.  The holders of the token can either operate a stake pool by staking the coins of other users on their behalf or by delegating their coins, which someone else can stake.

The staking process affects the Proof-of-Stake Protocol as there is an Ouroboros protocol that will choose the lucky punter.  The more an investor stakes, the more chance to be selected as the lucky punter.

When compared to the top 20 tokens, the Cardano might start with a correction from a recent high.  Cardano has been one of the best performing tokens as it gained 5% in just 24 hours.  At the time of reporting, Cardano has been trading at $0.0407 ADA/USD.