Cardano, the fourth-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, reached a new all-time high on Sunday, one day after Charles Hoskinson engaged in a conversation with Mark Cuban around the topic of Cardano’s potential.

ADA, Cardano’s token, has gained more than 60% in value over the past 2 weeks according to CoinGecko data, reaching an ATH of $2.45 on May 16th at a time when projects using Proof-of-Work (PoW) consensus protocols like Bitcoin experienced a steep drop in value.

Long seen as one of the biggest potential alternatives to the Ethereum network despite not having completed the development process, Cardano is now gaining traction as news of Tesla’s decision to stop accepting Bitcoin due to environmental concerns continue to affect projects relying on PoW.

While Ethereum will be transitioning to a Proof-of-Stake consensus protocol with the release of Ethereum 2.0, the network still uses a PoW approach that might have prevented it from being considered as a reliable alternative at this time.

This barrier should also be added to concerns about the ability of the network to escalate and operate efficiently at a time of high congestion.

Cardano’s latest releases provided developers and users with the option to create native tokens but the platform is still lacking smart contract features. The Alonzo update, which is expected to occur by the end of this month, will add smart contract support and open the doors for new uses of the network.

Hoskinson Pitches ADA to Mark Cuban Via Twitter

Mark Cuban, an American billionaire with a net worth estimated around $4.3 billion, has shown an increasing interest in cryptocurrencies such as DOGE and BTC over the past months.

The Dallas Maverick’s, an NBA team owned by Cuban, even started accepting the popular Shiba Inu-based cryptocurrency as a valid payment method for acquiring the team’s merchandise and tickets.

The entrepreneur started a Twitter discussion by asking his followers if they were” personally, able to use $ADA for anything?”, with thousands of followers quickly providing their opinions and retweeting his question.

You’re breaking my heart mark…. But levity aside. Come by the farm in Colorado sometime and let’s chat.

— Charles Hoskinson (@IOHK_Charles) May 15, 2021

One of such followers was Cardano’s Founder, Charles Hoskinson, who about an hour later replied with an invitation for Cuban to visit him in Colorado to chat about the project.

Hoskinson would later mention that the project has, “five million students in Ethiopia, thousands of assets issued on Cardano, a nice DApp ecosystem brewing for smart contract launch, a new VC model with catalyst, huge community.”

While Cuban seemed to find this information interesting and recognized Hoskinson’s status as an “ETH OG”, he also shared his belief that the platform was still not “there yet” in terms of applications while also mentioning the lack of smart contract functionality.

All Eyes are Set on the Alonzo Update

Like Mark Cuban, Cardano critics have been quick to point out that the network still lacks an essential aspect of blockchain technology: smart contract functionality.

This has made the Alonzo Hard Fork one of the most anticipated deployments for the network, as it will allow the network’s users to actually test the claims made by the project’s development team.

Hoskinson also Tweeted a 12-minute video in which he talked about the project’s history, goals, and status, directly addressing it to Cuban.

Mark Cuban Cardano https://t.co/x0zYCeSIRd

— Charles Hoskinson (@IOHK_Charles) May 15, 2021

In the conversation with Cuban, Hoskinson replied to the concerns around Smart Contracts by tweeting:

“We rebuilt the entire smart contract model. It took four years to do it, but it’s necessary if you actually want security and scale. No more DAO hacks, less off-chain code. Consistent operating cost. Furthermore I want all devs not just solidity devs”

This smart contract model will finally be seen with the release of the Plutus Core in the Alonzo update, which the project’s developers assure will provide greater security and flexibility.

With Ethereum 2.0 also advancing on its development, the success of the Alonzo hard fork will prove to have an important impact on how the race between Ethereum and its competitors advances in the future.

Especially at a time when enterprises are paying more attention than ever to environmental-friendly alternatives to Ethereum and Bitcoin.

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Source: https://blockonomi.com/cardano-reaches-all-time-high-as-founder-pitches-to-mark-cuban/