Cardano (ADA) against Ethereum (ETH)
Cardano and Ethereum next to each other: how the prices travelled, what differs under the hood and what each coin is built for.
ADA and ETH: what is under the hood
| Cardano (ADA) | Ethereum (ETH) | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $0.201625 | $2,450.84 |
| Ticker | ADA | ETH |
| Type | coin of its own network | coin of its own network |
| Launched | 2017 | 2015 |
| Built by | Charles Hoskinson | Vitalik Buterin |
| Consensus | Proof of Stake (Ouroboros) | Proof of Stake |
| Block | ~20 sec | ~12 sec |
| Supply cap | 45 B ADA | no cap |
| Privacy | transfers are public | transfers are public |
| In circulation | 37.52 B ADA | 122.06 M ETH |
| Market cap | $7.56 B | $299.08 B |
| Rank by cap | #19 | #2 |
Source: CoinGecko, Sep 17, 2026 22:24. Where these numbers come from
Who went where: ADA and ETH
Both prices start the period at 100, so the chart shows which one rose or fell harder — not the prices themselves.
| Period | ADA | ETH |
|---|---|---|
| Week | −7.44% | −0.37% |
| Month | +12.64% | +28.56% |
| Quarter | +19.94% | +43.76% |
Over the quarter their daily moves line up at 0.77 (they travel together).
What each one is built for: ADA and ETH
- Smart contracts and appsCardano and Ethereum
How Cardano and Ethereum are built
How Cardano works
Cardano uses the Ouroboros consensus protocol, with a block about every 20 seconds, and an extended UTXO model. ADA holders can delegate to stake pools without locking their coins. The maximum supply is 45 billion ADA.
What Cardano is for
ADA pays fees, is staked to secure the network and is used in Cardano-based DeFi and NFT applications.
How Ethereum works
Since September 2022 Ethereum has used Proof of Stake: validators lock ETH to propose and confirm blocks, with a new slot every 12 seconds. Smart contracts run in the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). Part of every transaction fee is burned, so the net supply depends on network activity.
What Ethereum is for
ETH is used to pay gas fees, as collateral in DeFi, for staking and as a settlement asset across the ecosystem. Layer-2 networks such as Arbitrum and Optimism also use ETH for fees, which makes it the working currency of a large part of the crypto economy.