Popular cryptocurrency analyst Lark Davis has weighed in on whether Cardano (ADA) is the “Ethereum killer” some in the cryptocurrency space have been anticipating, as the second-largest crypto by market capitalization’s scaling solutions haven’t yet been rolled out.

In a new video, first spotted by Daily Hodl, Davis explained that the Ethereum network is currently the frontrunner as it’s “maintained by the largest decentralized development community in the blockchain space,” and is “way ahead” when it comes to developers working on it.

Per his words, ETH is so “far ahead of the other smart contract platforms” looking at developer activity is “barely even relevant” because of its supremacy. Its upgrades over time have, however, been reactive instead of proactive:

Basically Ethereum’s approach has been to fix things as they go wrong or need improving. There have not been any real significant upgrades made to the network in a few years.

Davis added Ethereum is in the process of undergoing its “biggest upgrade” in its history, Ethereum 2.0. The upgrade will drop Ethereum’s Proof-of-Work (PoW) consensus algorithm in favor of a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus algorithm.

The Beacon Chain, the first phase of the upgrade to Ethereum 2.0, has already been launched. It’s a PoS blockchain that runs alongside the original Ethereum PoW chain, making sure that there is no break in the continuity of the chains.

On the other hand, Davis explained Cardano (ADA) uses newer and easier-to-use coding language design to help more users take advantage of the blockchain technology behind it. IOHK, the tech firm behind the Cardano ecosystem has, however, failed to so far implement a smart contract environment on the network because of its gradual implementation.

Everything being developed at IOHK is based on peer-reviewed, transparent, academic research. Now this is done to enable development using only evidence-based methods.

Cardano’s peer-reviewed strategy has slowed down its development, which is “why four years later we still don’t have smart contracts, even though we’re getting very, very close.” Comparing both, the crypto analyst pointed out there are more decentralized applications built on Ethereum, with Cardano having no public decentralized applications available.

He added Ethereum’s network effect is much stronger than that of Cardano, with the former having multiple partnerships while Cardano has fewer. Some of Cardano’s partners, he adds, are of high quality. While Ethereum is slower, scaling solutions including Optimism are merely weeks away.

Davis concluded:

I do subscribe personally to the one network, many chains theory, but if I have to make a call, gun to my head, it’s going to be Ethereum. Right now and for the foreseeable future, I think Ethereum is going to be the winner.

Justifying his decision, the analyst pointed out that it will be hard for Cardano to surpass Ethereum’s network effect, and said he believes Ethereum 2.0’s launch is “maybe another year” away. He wondered whether ADA can surpass ETH’s network effect in such a small amount of time.

Featured image via Unsplash.

The views and opinions expressed by the author are for informational purposes only and do not constitute financial, investment, or other advice.