Cardano climbs the crypto leaderboard

Quickly approaching the top two cryptoassets Bitcoin and Ethereum, a challenger has climbed up the leaderboard.

Cardano’s ADA is now the third-largest cryptoasset by market cap. The up-and-coming blockchain platform has surged from eleventh place in September last year, and following its big recent upgrade, it could soon find itself at the centre of an explosion of crypto innovation.

Buy and stake Cardano on eToro

Cryptoassets are unregulated in some EU countries and the UK. No consumer protection. Your capital is at risk
Crypto assets are unregulated & highly speculative. No consumer protection. Capital at risk.

An academic approach to crypto

Like Ethereum, Cardano is aiming to be the backbone of the future financial system. However, instead of the “move fast and break things” approach, Cardano has taken a deliberately slow route; foregoing the first-mover advantage in favour of in-depth academic research.

The Cardano team has written over 100 research papers, and staged protocol development through five distinct eras — each one named after a different poet or scientist. This unique approach aims to avoid the pitfalls of Ethereum and other smart contract platforms that have suffered hacks and insecurities.

Technically, Cardano can already claim considerable benefits over its rivals. While Ethereum can currently handle 15 transactions per second (TPS), Cardano supports hundreds of transactions per second, and with its layer 2 Hydra scalability solution, has plans to accommodate up to two million per second.

Alongside the protocol, Cardano has forged prestigious partnerships and built one of the biggest crypto communities. The team has joined forces with several universities and governments — including the University of Wyoming and the nation of Ethiopia — and with over 70% of all tokens earning rewards, has one of the most engaged staking communities in the entire cryptoasset space.

Buy and stake Cardano on eToro

Cryptoassets are unregulated in some EU countries and the UK. No consumer protection. Your capital is at risk
Crypto assets are unregulated & highly speculative. No consumer protection. Capital at risk.

Cardano’s time to shine?

In an industry that moves at lightning speed, Cardano’s slow and steady approach has attracted criticism: The team has missed multiple deadlines over the years, and naysayers claim that it may now be too late for the network to catch up with the relentless development of competitors.

Yet Cardano’s moment to shine could be just around the corner.

As Bitcoin is assailed by environmental concerns, and Ethereum is plagued by high fees caused by congestion, more investors — and even institutional buyers — are now looking to Cardano as an alternative.

At the same time, Cardano is putting the final pieces of its smart contract platform in place. If all goes to plan, then the recent network upgrade — Goguen — will provide the critical functionality needed to disarm critics. This could prove the effectiveness of Cardano’s academic approach to development, and unleash a wave of Cardano-based decentralized applications, DeFi protocols, and NFT innovation.

Invest in ADA today

Cryptoassets are unregulated in some EU countries and the UK. No consumer protection. Your capital is at risk
Crypto assets are unregulated & highly speculative. No consumer protection. Capital at risk.

How can you invest in ADA?

As one of the top five cryptoassets, Cardano’s ADA is available to buy on the world’s leading social investment platform: eToro.

You can both invest in the underlying asset, and automatically earn regular rewards for holding it using eToro’s dedicated staking service.

Get Cardano

Cryptoassets are unregulated in some EU countries and the UK. No consumer protection. Your capital is at risk
Crypto assets are unregulated & highly speculative. No consumer protection. Capital at risk.