which is better, cardano or solana?

Today, there are a ton of blockchains in the crypto market. With the highest Total Value Locked (TVL) of $30.19 billion as of the time of writing this article, Ethereum leads this space. However, many other Layer 1 (L1) projects have attracted much attention and adoption.

So, if you aren’t familiar with L1 projects, Cardano and Solana are 2 good projects to learn about! They’ve been around for a long time. Charles Hoskinson (co-founder of Cardano) began working on it in 2015. Also, Anatoly Yakovenko (co-founder of Solana) began working on his idea in 2017. Both projects are successful today in their own right. In this article, we compare 2 such prominent projects – Cardano and Solana.

Similarities Between Cardano and Solana

Now, what is similar between Cardano and Solana? Well, they’re both L1, smart contract platforms. Both projects want developers to build decentralized applications (dApps) on their blockchains. This in turn would increase the TVL of their projects. In comparison to Ethereum, both projects boast higher Transactions per Second (TPS). They also cost lesser to use (I.E. Users pay fewer gas fees for transactions).

“Well, that doesn’t help me to decide which project to use?”. You could be wondering. Or, “I don’t know whether to buy $ADA or $SOL with that information!”. If that is indeed so, we may have the answers to your questions. Let’s look at whether Cardano or Solana is better below!

Is Cardano or Solana Better?

For now, there is no clear answer as to which project will fare better. But, we can make a fair comparison of both projects in terms of some key metrics. Note that the data below is accurate as of the time of writing this article.

  1. In terms of TVL, Solana has the upper hand, according to DeFillama.
    • Cardano ranks at #32 with a TVL of $62.3 million.
    • Solana ranks at #8 with a TVL of $870.59 million.
  2. In terms of TPS, Solana stands out.
    • Cardano has a maximum TPS of 250 transactions per second. Today, Cardano is operating at a TPS of about 3 transactions per second. You can verify this data on the Cexplorer page.
    • Solana has a maximum TPS of 65,000 transactions per second. Today, Solana is operating at a TPS of 4,147 transactions per second. You can verify this data on their explorer page.

      Solana Live TPS
      Source: Solana Explorer
  3. In terms of the number of dApps, Solana also has the upper hand.
    • Cardano has 12 protocols on its platform as of today.
    • Solana has 87 protocols on its platform as of today.

      Cardano or Solana - No. of Protocols
      Source: DeFillama
  4. In terms of its NFT ecosystem, Solana trumps Cardano as well. It consistently ranks 2nd (behind Ethereum) for the year 2022 in terms of NFT volume.

    Cardano or Solana - NFT Trade Volume
    Source: The Block
  5. In terms of transaction fees, Solana again does better than Cardano. A general comparison is as follows:
    • Cardano’s fees range from USD$0.01 to USD$1.
    • Solana’s fees cost below USD$0.01.
  6. In terms of outages, Cardano has the upper hand here. In recent years, Solana has had at least 5 major outages. These periods were when the Solana chain was totally shut down. However, Cardano has not had such outages thus far. In fact, Cardano’s founder, Charles Hoskinson, took a dig at Solana’s recent outage earlier this month below.

Cardano or Solana – Who’s the Winner?

So, based on the above 6 criteria, Solana has trumped Cardano in 5 of them. I believe I have judged the 2 projects fairly with these criteria, which are indicative of an L1’s performance. Hence, it can be concluded that Solana is the better project today compared to Cardano. At least for now.

Aside from the above metrics, Cardano and Solana have some differences between them. Let’s dive into these below.

What Are the Differences Between Cardano and Solana?

A major difference between them lies in their consensus mechanism. Cardano uses the Ouroboros protocol. With this, Cardano is able to use Proof of Stake (PoS) to confirm transactions. On the other hand, Solana uses the Tower Byzantine Fault Tolerance algorithm. This allows Solana to use both PoS and Proof of History (PoH) to confirm transactions.

Another difference between the 2 projects lies in their market cap. As a crypto investor, you need to check a project’s market cap before investing in its token. Today, Cardano stands at a #8 rank with a market cap of $12.5 billion. In comparison, Solana stands at a #9 rank with a market cap of $10.3 billion.

Another point to note would be their staking rewards. Similarly, a crypto investor needs to be aware of their token’s staking rewards. By staking your $ADA or $SOL, you enjoy a return on your tokens. Today, Cardano’s staking reward is at 3.57%. In comparison, Solana’s staking reward amounts to 2.91%.

Cardano Versus Solana Price Prediction

Now, it’s time to look at some charts! Let’s do some technical analysis for Cardano’s $ADA token.

$ADA Price Prediction
Cardano Price Prediction
Source: Trading View

As with other tokens, $ADA hasn’t done well in this bear market. $ADA’s price has fallen well over 88% from its ATH of $3.15. Looking at the last 6 months, $ADA has also broken below the key support area of $0.42 (purple box above). $ADA has been trading consistently around its long-term orange downward trendline. But, without strong volume, there is no clear break of said trendline till today.

As $ADA is a high-cap token, it is affected by macro news. To trade $ADA, I would look for a positive macro confluence that pushes $ADA to $0.42. Then, it should retrace for a good entry at $0.36. This would form an inverse head and shoulders pattern. If $0.36 fails to hold, then we could look at $ADA falling further into the low $0.30’s.

$SOL Price Prediction
Solana Price Prediction
Source: https://www.tradingview.com/chart/cpClCEIc/?symbol=BYBIT%3AADAUSDT.P

Moving on to Solana’s $SOL token. $SOL has also been taking a beating, falling 89% from its ATH price of $260. Recently, $SOL has pretty much been range-bound. This is similar to $BTC’s price action. Today, $SOL is at its “make or break” support region, which lies at the $27 to $28 area. A push below said level could signify a significant downward move.

However, a significant macro or fundamental event could also present a bounce. $SOL could then move towards the mid $40’s. To catch this, a firm break of the short-term orange trendline should be sighted. Then, a slight retracement to $30 should be a good entry.

Conclusion

To conclude, I hope you’ve learned more about the differences between Cardano and Solana. You’ve also had an overview of which project is faring better today. I’ve also thrown in some short-term price predictions for you (which does not count as financial advice!).

Now, feel free to explore their ecosystems and dive deeper. You don’t have to keep all your money on Ethereum you know!

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