Despite the recent turmoil rattling the crypto market, over the past five years, Ethereum (ETH 10.09%) has generated an astronomical return of 2,560%. You’d be hard-pressed to find a financial asset with a better return than that during the same time. 

The world’s second-most valuable cryptocurrency has become a popular arena for the development of decentralized applications (dApps), including decentralized finance protocols and non-fungible tokens. And as of May 11, Ethereum’s market value stood at $271 billion. 

But an up-and-coming cryptocurrency known as Cardano (ADA 23.37%) is gaining major traction. Let’s take a look at how it just might top Ethereum. 

Cardano has a great deal of credibility 

Cardano was founded in 2015 by former Ethereum co-founder Charles Hoskinson, which makes it a credible project thanks to the technical expertise he gained by previously starting what is today the second most valuable crypto network. Since its public launch in 2017, Ada, Cardano’s native token, has soared 2,400% in value. And it currently has a market cap of $19 billion, good for seventh place in the crypto rankings. 

What makes Cardano unique is its research-based, peer-reviewed development approach. When new features are implemented, they go through a rigorous process of analysis and scrutiny by a team of computer scientists and cryptographers across the world.

Additionally, Cardano’s development comes in five phases, each focusing on one key attribute. They are: foundation, decentralization, smart contracts, scalability, and governance. Authoritative bodies, like the Cardano Foundation, IOHK, and EMURGO, help to lead the network’s adoption, engineering, and commercialization, respectively. 

Cardano is solving for scalability 

Ethereum is currently working to transition away from a proof-of-work (PoW) system, in which miners must use huge amounts of computational power to solve complex math puzzles in order to validate transactions on the blockchain, to a proof-of-stake mechanism; Cardano is already there. 

Its Ouroboros consensus mechanism requires Ada owners to stake their holdings to be able to approve transactions on the ledger. It requires substantially less energy than PoW, and it’s much faster. Currently, Cardano can process 250 transactions per second (TPS), more than Ethereum’s 14.

But after the current development phase, Basho, is fully implemented, Cardano will be able to theoretically handle 1 million TPS. That’s because its new algorithm, called Ouroboros Hydra, will add sidechains (that run parallel to the main network) that can spread the system’s load across the Cardano blockchain. This is expected to be completed sometime in 2022.

Cardano is building real use cases 

As Cardano continues solving for crypto’s scalability problem, its potential to create real-world use cases soars. With faster processing times, the network becomes far more attractive to developers who want to build on Cardano. As of May 10, there were almost 3,000 different dApps on Ethereum’s blockchain. But with the expected integration of Basho, Cardano will become a top destination for developers. 

Even in a more tangible sense, Cardano can make an impact. The blockchain can be used to identify counterfeit medicine in the healthcare sector, to track supply chains in the agriculture industry, and for client onboarding in financial services. While these are tiny projects today, they demonstrate how Cardano is spearheading crypto’s impact in our daily lives. 

Cardano is a promising blockchain that has some wonderful characteristics supporting its continued progress. As it keeps advancing and gaining momentum, its future returns could certainly outpace Ethereum’s. 

Shiba Inu had an incredible 2021, as the meme token skyrocketed 20,000,000% during the 12-month period. That’s a ridiculous return, and it perfectly demonstrates just how exciting the crypto world can be. But after peaking in late October, Shiba Inu has lost almost 70% of its value, and it now sports a market value of about $13.5 billion. 

As we look ahead, I think there are better cryptocurrencies to invest in with more favorable long-term prospects than Shiba Inu. Here are two to consider. 

1. Cardano 

Cardano (CRYPTO:ADA) is attracting major attention from the developer community, thanks in large part to its programmable blockchain that allows for smart-contract functionality, or self-executing computer programs. Cardano was launched by Ethereum co-founder Charles Hoskinson in 2017, adding to its credibility in the crypto community. 

Cardano employs a research-based approach to network updates, a process in which proposed changes are peer-reviewed by computer scientists and cryptography experts around the world. This ensures that mistakes are minimized. Cardano’s development is split into five stages, and currently it’s in the Basho Era, where scalability is the primary objective. With this, Cardano hopes to process a blazing 1 million transactions per second (TPS). 

What separates Cardano from Shiba Inu is its hope for real-world use cases. In addition to the potential for decentralized applications (dApps) running on its platform, Cardano is already being utilized in sectors from health care and agriculture to financial services and education. In 2021, Cardano led all cryptocurrencies with the highest daily active-developer activity, a leading indicator that more innovative projects are on the horizon. 

During the past three months, Cardano has lost more than 40% of its value amid a sell-off in the broader crypto market. As a result, this could be an opportune time to buy. It now carries a market cap of about $40 billion. Cardano is currently the sixth-largest cryptocurrency.  

2. Solana

Another promising cryptocurrency that could crush Shiba Inu is Solana (CRYPTO:SOL). Like Cardano, it enables the use of smart contracts, making it a direct competitor to Ethereum’s dominance.

Launched in 2020 by two ex-Qualcomm employees, Solana is known for its proof-of-history consensus mechanism. This innovation allows timestamps to be built into each block of the blockchain, which speeds up throughput. It’s a major advancement in the crypto industry. 

Solana has become a prominent blockchain for non-fungible token (NFT) projects — unique digital claims of ownership of art, videos and gaming items. Solanart and Solsea are two NFT marketplaces built on Solana’s network. According to Solana’s website, it’s the fastest blockchain in the world and has more than 400 active projects.

As I previously mentioned, attracting developers is vital to any blockchain’s ongoing success. Solana appears to be excelling in this department. 

Right now, Solana can process more than 1,300 TPS at the cost of a fraction of a penny per transaction. Because of this speed and affordability, Bank of America analyst Alkesh Shah earlier this month said that Solana can become the Visa of the digital-asset economy. That’s certainly not a bad endorsement, but a lot still needs to be proven, especially around ease of use. 

During the past three months, Solana has fallen almost 40%, along with the overall industry. It now carries a market cap of $37 billion. Solana is currently the seventh-largest cryptocurrency.

Searches for Dogecoin ($DOGE) have been dwarfing searches for other cryptocurrencies like BTC or its rival meme-inspired cryptocurrency Shiba Inu ($SHIB), at least in the United States. Analysis has revealed DOGE is the most searched for crypto in 23 states.

Bitcoin, the flagship cryptocurrency, was the second-most popular cryptocurrency with ten states having the cryptocurrency on top of their searches. DOGE is believed to be on top partly thanks to endorsements from Tesla CEO Elon Musk and other celebrities.

As CryptoGlobe reported, search interest for Dogecoin exploded during the cryptocurrency’s massive 10,000% price rally, going from an average of 135,000 monthly searches in April 2020 to 16.5 million in April 2021.

Dogecoin was created back in 2013 as a joke. The cryptocurrency’s community is well-known for taking on philanthropic projects, which included helping charitable organizations. It made headlines in 2014 after raising more than $25,000 worth of DOGE to let the Jamaican bobsleigh team attend the Winter Olympics in Sochi.

Search interest data in the U.S. came from research conducted by financial advisor The Advisor Coach, as first reported by CityAM, which analyzed Google Trends data to get to its results.

The third-most searched-for cryptocurrency, according to Google Trends, was Ethereum with 8 states having it on top of their searches. Next to ETH came DOGE rival Shiba Inu, with 7 states focusing more on the cryptocurrency that saw its price surge over 14,000,000%.

Cardano ($ADA) was the most searched for cryptocurrency in one state, as was Lithium ($LITH), a little-known cryptocurrency with a market capitalization below the $20 million mark.

DISCLAIMER

The views and opinions expressed by the author, or any people mentioned in this article, are for informational purposes only, and they do not constitute financial, investment, or other advice. Investing in or trading cryptoassets comes with a risk of financial loss.

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