What is Ardor?

Ardor is a blockchain platform designed to offer blockchain-as-a-service (BaaS) solutions for businesses and institutions. It features a main chain that provides security and decentralization, along with customizable child chains ready for various business applications. Ardor aims to address issues related to scalability and blockchain bloat, building on the foundations laid by its predecessor, Nxt, which operates on a forged proof-of-stake system and has a fixed total token supply.

To demonstrate its capabilities, Ardor features Ignis, a child chain that implements customizable functionalities derived from the Nxt codebase. The Ignis initial coin offering raised $15 million for development purposes and serves as a proof of concept for potential future applications, such as equity trading platforms and private enterprise solutions. Ardor's architecture utilizes Java, a widely-used programming language, facilitating easier development for commercial applications.