Cardano’s primary use case is to allow transactions in its native cryptocurrency, ADA, and to enable developers to build secure decentralized applications powered by it.

 

However, Cardano differs from other blockchain projects by emphasizing a research-driven approach to design, aiming to achieve an academic rigor it believes will propel adoption of its technology.

 

While Cardano may not promise new ground-breaking features, users and developers may find its cryptocurrency offers appealing optimizations based on scientific research and formal verification, a process by which its code is verified mathematically.

 

Further, Cardano is released in phases and has seen 5 major platform upgrades since 2017, including Byron, which enabled the transfer for ADA cryptocurrency for the first time and Voltaire, which introduced a new model for how users could fund development for software changes.

Ethereum was created with the intention of becoming a global, open-source platform for custom assets and new kinds of economic applications.

 

Considered to be one of the most ambitious blockchain projects to date, Ethereum seeks to leverage blockchain technology to decentralize products and services in a wide range of use cases beyond money.

 

To date, Ethereum has seen a few distinct phases that have emphasized different aspects of its capabilities.

 

First, entrepreneurs flocked to Ethereum in 2017 during its famous “ICO boom”, where creators would try to raise money for new projects using new assets on the Ethereum blockchain.During this time, Ethereum was seen as something of a global capital allocator and funding mechanism.

 

A new phase of Ethereum, called decentralized finance (DeFi), has started garnering attention in 2020. This movement saw the creation of decentralized applications (dapps) intended to automate financial services like lending or borrowing without the need for a traditional bank or intermediary.