Ethereum Vs Cardano Vs Solana – A Comparison

September 21, 2021 leave a comment

Ethereum, Cardano, and Solana are among the top 10 cryptocurrencies in the world today. They are ranked #2, #3, and #6 respectively in terms of market capitalization at the time of writing. All three are interesting projects with solid fundamentals. Ethereum has been one of the biggest names in the crypto community since its inception.

Its smart contract functionality, ERC-10 and ERC-20 token standards, dApp supportability has cemented Ethereum’s place as one of the most popular blockchain platforms. Cardano is a proof-of-stake blockchain platform that provides features similar to Ethereum but in a more eco-friendly way. Solana is intended to support dApp development and implements a hybrid consensus mechanism.

Both Cardano and Solana have been dubbed as “Ethereum killers” in the sense that they could act as substitutes for Ethereum. Their cryptocurrencies ADA and SOL have recently hit all-time highs. How do these three coins compare against each other? Let’s have a look at Ethereum vs Cardano vs Solana.

What is Ethereum?

Ethereum is the next most popular cryptocurrency in the world after Bitcoin. But unlike Bitcoin, it is not just a medium of exchange or a storage of value. Ethereum can be described as a decentralized computing network based on blockchain technology. It facilitates the development of smart contracts and dApps.

Ethereum was founded by a group of blockchain enthusiasts in 2015. The group consisted of the current CEO of the platform and the world’s youngest crypto billionaire Vitalik Butarin and the founder of the blockchain applications developer ConsenSys, Joe Lubin.

Ethereum has a lot of use cases including crowdfunding, entertainment, lending platforms, insurance, identity management, etc. Many companies have used Ethereum to raise funds for their initial coin offerings using tokens developed on the Ethereum blockchain. Gaming platform Augur and decentralized marketplace Golem were some of the most popular ICO’s on the Ethereum blockchain.

The platform is also home to many popular gaming platforms like the recently viral CryptoKitties, where you can purchase, collect, breed, and sell virtual cats. Many of the popular DeFi platforms such as Maker, Compound, PancakeSwap, Balancer, etc are developed on Ethereum.

What is Cardano?

Cardano is the blockchain platform behind the ADA coin which has been making waves in the cryptocurrency market recently. It allows smart contract and dApp development similar to Ethereum but in a more sustainable and scalable way. The platform was developed based on solid scientific philosophy and peer-reviewed academic research.

Cardano was founded in 2015 by Charles Hoskinson, a co-founder of Ethereum who left the project after a disagreement with CEO Vitalik Buterin. There are three organizations, The Cardano Foundation, IOHK, and Emurgo that work to ensure the proper development of Cardano.

Get the best Cardano Blockchain Development Services with CryptoSoftwares

Cardano aims to solve the scalability, interoperability, and sustainability issues of other blockchains. It is considered an environmentally friendly blockchain as it uses the proof of stake validation method. Blockchains such as Bitcoin and Ethereum use proof of work validation which consumes large quantities of electricity and requires tremendous computation power.

All of these are not required in the more sustainable proof of stake system. There is no mining process involved in Cardano. ADA, the cryptocurrency of the platform is currently priced at $2.47 and has a market cap of over 77 billion dollars. The coin recently hit its all-time high of $3.10 and has the potential to go on further.

What is Solana?

The value of the SOL cryptocurrency of the Solana blockchain skyrocketed from $40 to an all-time high of $210 in a matter of days. This was due to the launch of the Degenerate Ape Academy, an NFT project launched on the blockchain. It is currently the seventh-largest cryptocurrency in the world according to market capitalization. Similar to Ethereum, Solana also facilitates the development of smart contracts and dApps.

Solana was founded by CEO Anatoly Yakovenko in 2017. The platform aims to eliminate the limitations in transaction speed and confirmation times experienced on popular blockchains. Solana uses a variation of the proof of stake method called the proof of history to validate transactions.

While the proof of stake method is a sustainable alternative to proof of work, it is not highly efficient and the network can be overcrowded and slow at times. The proof of history system drastically minimizes the time required for the validation process. This makes Solana one of the fastest blockchains in the world processing over 50,000 transactions per second and adding new blocks at a time of 2.34 seconds.

Read more on Solana Token – The Native Token of Solana Blockchain

Solana implements a few more core innovations. Consensus algorithm Tower BFT, block propagation protocol Turbine, The Gulf Stream protocol, the transaction processing engine Sealevel, transaction processing unit for validation optimization Pipeline, a data structure for stability requirements Cloudbreak, and Archivers for data storage.

Ethereum vs Cardano vs Solana – A Comparison

	Ethereum	Cardano	Solana
Consensus mechanism	Proof of Work	Proof of Stake Ouroboros	Proof of History
Transactions per second	15 to 45	250	60,000
Market capitalization	Over 350 billion $	Over 66 billion $	Over 40 billion $
Circulating supply	117 million ETH	32.03 billion ADA	296 million SOL
Launch Date	July 2015	2017	April 2020
Team/Organisation	Ethereum Foundation	IOHK	Solana Labs
Transaction Fees	$2.15	0.16-0.17 ADA	$0.00025
Current price	$2,975.73	$2.07	$135.85
All-time high	$4,362.35	$3.10	$214.96

In Summary

Ethereum, Cardano, and Solana are some of the most promising blockchain projects active today. All three have solid fundamentals and a clear roadmap and plans for the future. If you have a blockchain project in mind, Cryptosoftwares can help you develop dApps on Ethereum, Cardano, and Solana blockchains or create ERC-10, ERC-20, ADA, or SOL tokens.