Cardano Looks to Dethrone Ethereum with Increased Contracts and Scalability

Cardano, often touted as one of the “Ethereum killers,” is looking to live up to the tag with an increase in its smart contracts and improved scalability.

Created in 2017 by Charles Hoskinson and Jeremy Wood, Cardano has been steadily making strides in the blockchain space. With a focus on scalability, security, and energy efficiency, the network aims to challenge Ethereum’s dominance as the leading blockchain platform for dApps.

Recent developments such as Hydra and the deployment of more smart contracts have bolstered Cardano’s position as a competitor to Ethereum, attracting the attention of developers and users alike.

Cardano Makes Progress on Hydra

The latest development surrounding the Cardano ecosystem was the launch of the first mainnet-compatible Hydra last week. The feat represented significant progress towards the full deployment of Hydra on the Cardano network. This came 14 months after Hydra heads were deployed on the public testnet.

Hydra is expected to improve Cardano’s scalability capacity by allowing for the creation of subchains called “heads” which handle transactions in parallel. Despite its promise, rumors of Hydra handling up to 1 million TPS were recently debunked by a Cardano developer, as disclosed by The Crypto Basic.

An Increase in Smart Contracts & Native Tokens

One of the most significant advancements on Cardano was the introduction of smart contracts in September 2021 following the Alonzo fork. Smart contracts are self-executing agreements that automate tasks on the blockchain, and their launch on Cardano expanded the platform’s capabilities.

Since introducing smart contract functionality, Cardano’s smart contracts have surged, owing to notable developments and upgrades over the years. Data from Cardano Blockchain Insights suggests that Cardano now boasts 5,776 Plutus V1 scripts, representing a 22% increase from the value of 4,718 observed at the start of the year.

Moreover, Cardano’s adoption has skyrocketed of late, as evidenced in several metrics, including an increase in its native tokens. Per data from pool.pm, the network has now welcomed over 8.28 million native tokens since the Mary hard fork went live in March 2021.

Development Activity Skyrockets

Challenging the “Ghost Chain” narrative, Cardano has remained at the top in terms of development activity. According to a Santiment analysis from December 2022, Cardano emerged as the network with the highest GitHub development activity for 2022.

Moreover, data from ProofofGithub indicates that Cardano has retained a top 3 position on the list of networks with the highest weekly development activities from Jan. 15 to April 23. This marks 15 consecutive weeks.

How Does Cardano Fare Against Ethereum?

Despite its growth, Cardano still trails behind Ethereum at the moment. Ethereum’s dominance is as a result of its high adoption rate. For instance, Ethereum welcomed a massive 3.79 million smart contracts from January to April this year, according to Dune Analytics.

The dApp ecosystem is another area where Cardano is steadily growing but lags behind Ethereum. While Ethereum’s ecosystem is well-established and mature, Cardano’s ecosystem is still evolving. Cardano currently has a TVL of $150.43 million while Ethereum’s TVL stands at $27 billion as of press time.

Ethereum has an established user base and a wide range of existing dApps, making it difficult for Cardano to break through. Overcoming this challenge will require strategic partnerships, developer incentives, and community support to attract more users and developers to the Cardano ecosystem.

While challenges such as adoption and technical hurdles remain, Cardano’s advantages make it a promising contender in the blockchain space. With continued progress and widespread adoption, Cardano has the potential to become a major player and a viable alternative to Ethereum.

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