What is the Difference Between Ethereum and Cardano

The key difference between Ethereum and Cardano is that Cardano is a Proof-of-Stake blockchain platform while Ethereum is a Proof-of-Work blockchain platform.

Ethereum and Cardano are both innovative blockchain-based networks designed to tackle several world problems. Although they are very similar, they are fundamentally different.

CONTENTS

1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What is Ethereum 
3. What is Cardano
4. Similarities – Ethereum and Cardano
5. Ethereum vs Cardano in Tabular Form
6. Summary – Ethereum vs Cardano

What is Ethereum?

Ethereum is a decentralised network built on the blockchain. It is best known for its cryptocurrency Ether, which is typically abbreviated as ETH. Ethereum, like Cardano, is decentralised, which ensures that all transactions are secure. The fact that Ethereum and Cardano were the first platforms to build and deploy smart contract capabilities makes them both innovative and different from Bitcoin.

Ethereum supports smart contracts. A smart contract is computer software that automates the performance of legally binding events.

What is Cardano?

Cardano is a proof-of-stake (PoS) blockchain platform with the goal of outperforming proof-of-work (PoW) networks. Cardano is aimed to address and solve various scalability, sustainability, and interoperability challenges that plague networks like Ethereum and Bitcoin. Charles Hoskinson, who was also a co-founder of Ethereum, is the creator of Cardano. While working at Ethereum, Hoskinson identified all of Ethereum’s and Proof-of-Work networks’ flaws and created Cardano to address them. Just like Ethereum, Cardano also supports the use of Smart Contracts.

Cardano offers a wide range of applications and use cases, and it even allows developers to create their own projects on the network. One of Cardano’s key ambitions is to establish a banking system for countries that don’t presently have one. Since Cardano is a proof-of-stake blockchain network, monetary transactions on the network are faster, cheaper, and more energy-efficient, making it the ideal alternative for nations that lack banking systems.

What are the Similarities Between Ethereum and Cardano?

Cardano and Ethereum both share an array of similarities.

  • Charles Hoskin, the founder of Cardano, also helped co-find Ethereum; therefore, his extensive knowledge and ideas are implemented on both these networks.
  • Cardano and Ethereum were both built to have numerous amount of use cases and to allow developers to build their projects on the network.
  • Furthermore, both these networks have smart contract operability.

What is the Difference Between Ethereum and Cardano?

Despite the many similarities, both these networks are fundamentally different. First of all, Cardano is a proof-of-stake protocol, making it faster, energy-efficient, and cheaper than Ethereum, a proof-of-work blockchain. In comparison, Cardano is far more advanced and offers more use cases than Ethereum. Thus, this is the key difference between Ethereum and Cardano.

Scalability, sustainability, and interoperability stunt the growth of Ethereum significantly as the costs and energy use required are far too significant. On the other hand, Cardano has been built on a proof-of-stake network to ensure it doesn’t face the same problems that Ethereum has faced. However, Ethereum is aiming to move to a Proof-of-Stake network when the Ethereum 2.0 update rolls out.

The below infographic presents the differences between Ethereum and Cardano in tabular form for side by side comparison.

Summary – Ethereum vs Cardano

In conclusion, both Cardano and Ethereum are amazing technological advancements created to tackle problems and issues on a global scale. Furthermore, both these platforms were designed to be used by developers to create their own projects on them. However, Cardano is a Proof-Of-Stake blockchain platform meaning that it handles transactions better and enables transactions to be quicker, cheaper, and more energy-efficient when compared to the Proof-of-Work platform, Ethereum. So, this is the key difference between Ethereum and Cardano.

Reference:

1. “Ethereum logo translucent” By Wikideas1 – Own work LiberationReport.com (CC0) via Commons Wikimedia
2. “Cardano-cardano-logo-cardano-crypto” (CC0) via Pixabay