Cardano (ADA) has been in the shadows lately, slowly climbing the cryptocurrency charts and has now passed Litecoin (available on Coinbase), Monero, Dash, and IOTA to claim the fifth largest digital currency by market cap at $31.3 Billion.

Source: coinmarketcap

At press-time, ADA is currently trading at $1.21, a coin, up 14.78% on the day. That is just under its record high of $1.31, that was reached today at 08:19:14 UTC. For the month, Cardano is up 830.7% and since October 1st, 2017, the coin is up 5661%.

UNEXPECTED SURGE

Cardano, was launched back in 2015 but has yet to deliver what its developers originally promised. ADA has been called the “Ethereum (available on Coinbase) of Japan” as it was established by Ethereum (available on Coinbase)’s co-founder Charles Hoskinson. During the coin’s ICO phase, 95% of the participants in the fundraising were Japanese. It has since globalized. Cardano’s aim is to become an advanced smart contract, similar to that of Ethereum (available on Coinbase) except it has invented a new proof-of-stake mETHod named “Ouroboros.” So ADA offers more functions on its smart contracts and also promises to function cheap, quick, and efficient like Litecoin (available on Coinbase), while also offering the store value of Bitcoin (available on Coinbase). All in one coin.

There isn’t really any clear indication as to why Cardano has made such significant gains as of late. With Bitcoin (available on Coinbase)’s rise coming to a complete halt, investors have been ADAmantly searching for the “next Bitcoin (available on Coinbase).” With ADA’s circulating supply as high as Ripple (available on Binance)’s and coin price just passing the $1 mark, it is highly unlikely that Cardano will ever hold as much value as Bitcoin (available on Coinbase). However, it is quickly gaining popularity among aLTCoin investors and is very close to passing Bitcoin (available on Coinbase) Cash for the 4th spot.

Featured Image: twitter