Even if one is new to the world of cryptocurrencies, there are some things to keep in mind, Bitcoin and Ethereum are the names that most users are aware of. But now, cryptocurrency experts all around the world are buzzing about Cardano, a lesser-known cryptocurrency that has been dubbed "the one to watch."

Cardano, with its native virtual currency ADA, surpassed Bitcoin as the world's third-largest cryptocurrency in August of this year. It currently has a market valuation of over $72 billion (around 5,31,416 crores) and is only surpassed on the chart by Bitcoin and Ether.

And it appears that the situation for bitcoin is just going to get better. Following a 1000 percent surge in value in 2021, its virtual currency (ADA) now outperforms Bitcoin and Ether.

The fact that Cardano is one of the few highly valued cryptocurrencies with "sustainable" features works in its favour.

This is particularly pertinent at a time when concerns about the long-term viability of cryptocurrency have resulted in a drop in the value of major players like as Bitcoin.

Bitcoin even lost favour with former admirer and SpaceX founder Elon Musk, who ditched it in favour of Dogecoin, citing a lack of sustainability as a reason.

ADA is a long-term investment because of its blockchain protocol. Cardano, unlike Bitcoin, does not use supercomputers to create new ADA units or execute transactions.

Cardano is based on a technique known as "proof-of-stake." To validate a transaction, miners are needed to place their cryptocurrency as a "stake." As a result, Cardano's energy consumption is a tiny fraction of that of the Bitcoin network.

Cardano's official website claims that the cryptocurrency is on its approach to attaining a "capitalization comparable to that of the technical heavyweights." “It might be reasonable to compare blockchain projects with contemporary technology titans like Microsoft, Apple, and Amazon,” according to a statement on the site.

In addition, the 'Alonzo hard fork' upgrade was recently implemented in Cardano. Users can now write and deploy "smart contracts" on the Cardano blockchain, thanks to a software upgrade that was released over two weeks ago.

Cardano is intended to be able to host use cases such as Decentralized Finance (DeFi) as a result of the upgrade, making transactions and commerce easier.

Cardano is approximately 179 Indian rupees as of 10.40 a.m. on September 27.