While Bitcoin is the biggest and most visible cryptocurrency in the world, ranking #1 in the marketplace, Ethereum has long been #2, serving as a launching pad for a number of platforms that use the Ethereum blockchain. However, there are tokens that could easily challenge Ethereum. Solana and Polkadot were introduced in an effort to compete with Ethereum, and Cardano—created by a founder of Ethereum in 2017–is already one of the most popular tokens in the global crypto market. Aside from its popularity and a market cap in the tens of billions, Cardano has about 8 times more transactions per second than Ethereum. Additionally, the token uses a proof-of-stake consensus that uses far less energy than proof-of-work tokens, and prices per transaction are significantly lower than other tokens. Moreover, Cardano has become popular as a vehicle for derivatives, making it one of the most versatile tokens for investors. At press time, Cardano was trading at $1.02, down over 3% on rising volume and a sinking market cap.