Ethereum vs cardano; which blockchain is better. which should you buy; explained

Ethereum or cardano which is better which blockchain is going to win the race for smart contract platform supremacy and really what are the differences between these two blockchains that make them unique and valuable.  In this Article i'll explain the differences between these two chains as well as give you my verdict on which block chain is better. so make sure to stick around until the end of the article for my final verdict ..

• WHAT IS ETHEREUM

let's start off with what is ethereum so ethereum is a second generation blockchain that brought in a massive range of new utility and new features to the blockchain economy . it was an absolute watershed moment for the crypto industry but it still does rely on proof of work a consensus mechanism that many consider now to be outdated as well as using a difficult coding language called solidity. currently, ethereum is a fully operational blockchain though which means that all upgrades must also be tested at great length before being launched on the main chain this is because there are currently around 200 billion dollars on the line in terms of the market cap so the developers have to take a lot of care to avoid causing any catastrophic events that would put all of that value in the network at risk.

Ethereum is maintained by the largest decentralized development community in the blockchain space way ahead in terms of developers like miles ahead of the nearest chain which is bitcoin and so far ahead of the other smart contract platforms as to be barely even a relevant metric due to ethereum's supremacy in this regard.  Upgrades on the ethereum network have been reactive over time though instead of proactive. basically ethereum's approach has been to fix things as they go wrong or need improving there have not been any real significant upgrades made to the network in a few years.  that being said ethereum is right now in the process of the biggest upgrade in its history called eth 2.0.

This will bring about three major improvements the first ending proof of work and its inefficiencies and implementing staking which will change the economics of ethereum forever from a mine and dump economy to a stake and huddle economy.  the second is bringing in network sharding which will bring in 100 x scalability and the third is web assembly which will make building and using applications on ethereum much easier now. 

• WHAT IS CARDANO

let's talk about cardano. cardano is a third generation proof of stake blockchain that uses newer and easier to work with coding language in order to enable anyone to be able to create smart contracts without any previous blockchain experience.  this is going to be game changing really opening up the availability for users and use cases to come into the blockchain world with a much easier development experience that's the intention anyway cardano is being built right now in phases to ensure full functionality of the blockchain before smart contract assets are able to be built.  and although we are nearing the final stages of this process of bringing in higher level functionality for smart contracts on cardona we still do not have a fully functional smart contract environment on the cardano blockchain.  

Cardano is however very unique it is a built from scratch blockchain with multiple layers multiple dimensions and whose smart contracts will when they are fully deployed be more nuanced and operate in a different fashion depending on the need.  A company called iohk is in charge of developing the cardano technology and everything being developed at iohk is based on peer-reviewed transparent academic research.  now this is done to enable development using only evidence-based methods sounds pretty cool right. 

However this has resulted in a much slower to market strategy for cardona which is why you know four years later we still don't have smart contracts even though we are getting very very close but if the go slow and don't break things approach of cardano ends up working it should result in a much more robust blockchain.  so that's the basic overview of both the chains now where are they in terms of their current networks and their network effects.

• NETWORK EFFECT 

Well, ethereum has the largest network effect in the blockchain world next to bitcoin when it comes to nodes with currently around 6000 uniquely distributed nodes on ethereum.  cardano not doing too shabby either currently has 2300 different stake pools. we are seeing a high level of distribution with cardona right now. ethereum also has the benefit of being a fully operational technology operating across many different industries today right now at this very second it's also recognized as basically the birthplace of decentralized applications.  currently hosting of course the largest amount of decentralized applications by far. In fact there are more applications on ethereum than there are on every other blockchain combined and then multiply that a few times it's that big of a lead.  These applications include everything from nft art , decentralized marketplaces , derivatives , stable coins lending borrowing,real estate. tokenized shares and much much more.  cardano at this stage has no public apps available so it's kind of behind in that department by a lot although we should start getting the first applications coming to cardano quite soon.  but without them there are little network effects to be speaking of outside of those people operating a node .

Many cardano enthusiasts state that when smart contracts go live that there's going to be this sudden flipping event where all the applications were just going to flee away from ethereum over to cardano.  this seems quite unlikely considering the high competition not just from ethereum and the development's happening i think but also from other chains like polkadot , elrond , cosmos,  BINANCE etc.  there's no indication that cardano is somehow going to magically capture all of that value what we're actually seeing from a lot of tokens and applications these days is a multi-coin strategy in which their tokens are actually living on many different chains. Like  sushi swap lives on like seven or eight different block chains now. even the founder of cardano has said  about a hundred applications are likely to come to cardona we have to keep in mind too this is actually just a fraction of the ethereum ecosystem.  so 100 is good not knocking now i'm just saying it's  you know everything on ethereum.

In terms of partnerships ethereum has many different enterprise companies that are using and building tools on the ethereum blockchain including some incredibly large companies like reddit which is obviously one of the biggest social media applications on the internet.  ethereum also has an incredible range of corporate partners via the ethereum enterprise alliance with major companies like  microsoft collaborating with ethereum.

Cardano by contrast has far fewer partners but should not be immediately discounted in terms of the quality of partners that cardano has been able to ink some deals with . for example we have some deals with some different governments around the world like ethiopia for example where they're working on a few different solutions for the government or companies like pricewaterhousecooper which is helping ethereum with their sort of strategy.

Now in terms of user experience right now ethereum an incredible amount of wallets and incredible amount of  applications so much going on but it's slow and expensive right now . and although there is that rich user experience with all the applications it's really a pay-to-play place and you really need to have the money to be able to use these applications.

Cardona by contrast dirt cheap fast as hell but you can't really do anything with it right now except just stake it.  the good news is that you only need like five or six bucks though worth of cardano to start staking and earning rewards.  ethereum by contrast requires a cool 32 ethereum worth around 58000 DOLLOR to staked to earn rewards unless of course using a third-party service which then you might only require you know 50 bucks worth of ethereum or something like that. i did a fully detailed ethereum staking article a few days ago for those of you who are interested in learning how to stake your ethereum cardano rates are around five percent apy at the moment . ethereum's around seven percent ap why it's not a massive variation there.  although ethereum staking rewards are locked until sometime in 2022 again depending on the stake and service that you're used. whereas cardano's staking rewards can be spent immediately.

• WHICH BLOCKCHAIN IS BETTER

so which block chain is better . well i do subscribe personally to the one network many chains theory but if i have to make a call gun to my head it's going to be ethereum right now.  and for the foreseeable future i think ethereum is going to be the winner and i know that statement is going to completely trigger some cardano maximalists.  feel free to voice your discontent and tell me why i am totally wrong down in the comments section.  but right now ethereum is so incredibly far ahead in terms of network effect and developers and wallets and applications and all these things and yes things can change quickly .

but things are changing quickly right now for ethereum also.  so keep that in mind optimism a major scaling solution for ethereum only a few weeks away from deploying right now and ethereum 2.0 really not that far away maybe another year or so.  Will cardano really catch up and pass the insane network effect of ethereum in a year's time after they launch the final phase of smart contracts in a few months time.  i do not believe that will happen and i know that the move fast and break things approach of ethereum has resulted in a lot of problems.  believe me i know but i think it's better to be in constant practice constantly developing and learning to become a master in the long run.  that being said while ethereum fees do remain high there is a big big opportunity for other chains to make their mark. 

But you have to remember increasingly cardano is not just competing against ethereum there are about 20 or 30 well-funded and very very hungry competitors out there.  which already have bigger and more vibrant ecosystems than cardano does or is planning to have currently at least what we know from what's been released or hinted at.  and they're looking to take its place in the market cap rankings . so victory is far from certain for cardano but if they can pull it off it's going to be a beast . 

I would love to know your opinion in the cardano VS ethereum race which blockchain is going to win in the end or is your money on another blockchain let us all know down below in the comment section thanks so mucH.