I totally ‘get’ that Charles is a Dude, and the Team is amazing, and the “road map” is outstanding…
…however RIGHT NOW, with ADA in it’s current state, what about it is truly different and more developed than other top cryptos like ETH, BTC, NEO, DASH, etc?
The point of the question is this: is ADA right now truly a ‘better’ coin (even if it would stop developing right now), or is it more like the “promises” of amazing innovation that gives ADA it’s ‘edge’ over other coins?
Tell me more about about the these great coins that are on the end of their roadmap… Oh wait, all the ones you mentioned have a market cap based on future assumptions just like cardano does.
This is the nature when investing in a technology that is pioneering. The difference for me is that the code is held to high standards, by independent auditors and the transparency is something the other cryptos you have mentioned don’t have.
Also after spending countless hours days weeks and months researching this project, their plan makes a lot more sense than the others.
If you want to invest in a cryptocurrency that is proven to scale to millions of users then wait 5 years till the dust settles and invest in the winner…
This is why they say you only invest what you are willing to lose in crypto, there are no sure things.
Due diligence is your best friend. By no means should you let other people convince you to buy anything. The only sure thing in life is that there are no sure things. 
Thanks Bullish - reading between the lines of your posts reveals to me a lot. You know a lot more on this topic than I do I’m sure (I know almost nothing LOL)
What I think I am “getting” is that in reality, at the end of the day, on Dec.31, 2017 the ADA cryptocurrency in it’s current usable form is simply a usable cryptocurrency. It has a ton of ‘upcoming’ features which, if actually come to manifest, would indeed offer great advantages over other cryptos. But right now - we can use ADA/DAEDALUS to transfer ADA coins around quickly and cheaply. Not much more than that > so in fact it is useful as BTC was one year ago - and that’s about it right now (?).
Of course we do not know how ADA will fare once mass adoption occurs. Look at what happened to BTC > it is currently a total and miserable failure as a “currency”. [it’s also not faring so well at the moment as a ‘store of value’] > but forgive me, I am honestly not try to bash BTC (I love BTC!). What I am saying is that what looked like a brilliant idea has flopped when it comes to mass adoption. So right now ADA or all sorts of other cryptos might appear to be working wonderfully but give them to mass-adoption test and they will all show their real colours immediately.
So in asking this question on this post, essentially I am just trying to save myself a bit of time to figure out the answer for myself >>>>> what I think the answer is is that in truth, right now, facts on the ground, we really don’t know what ADA is able to do right now - it has just come out - it is hardly being used - it is a cryptocurrency that functions, and that is that.
Having said that, and as I stated on my original question, I am deeply impressed with Cardano’s team, their philosophy, their academic approach, their presentation… etc etc etc and I am not attempting to be cynical or cast doubt, I truly simply would like to know if at present there is anything about ADA that concretely manifests distinct improvements over other top cryptos? From what I gather, other than an extremely impressive presentation and list of promises - there is nothing concrete to set ADA apart, and therefore the current price rise is based on speculation and trust.
You’re right that currently ADA has very few features and works as a ‘basic’ cryptocurrency , it can be used to transact and to store value and that’s basically it. What sets cardano apart is the features being developed, you could say it’s just a promise right now, but that’s what early adopters do right? 
The main difference is the team and the approach they are taking in developing the project, but in 2018 it should really distance itself from the other with the implementation of ouroboros and such.
Thanks, that makes sense…
I dig the thought process that went into the nomenclature of their wallet, their algorithm and even their name.
I do too …to me it all seems fantastic and I believe in it. At the same time I want to try to keep a sane head on my shoulders. I’m a noob and know nothing > but I must admit that whole vibe of this skyrocketing price and sense of FOMO trying to actually buy ADA > not to mention how incredibly difficult and time consuming it is to acquire it === maybe I am being silly here, but if I may play Devil’s advocate I’d like to ask this question: If truly Cardano is so great, then why couldn’t the development team quite simply figure out an easy way for folks to purchase ADA with a VISA CARD? I mean, these days you can buy anything online with a VISA card with FIAT… I simply can not figure out why a crypto company, especially one that is believed to be able to accomplish ‘moon-landing’ type accomplishments - can’t simply figure out a way to offer sale directly on-line??
I must admit that I have a pretty big chip on my shoulder because I get hot on Cardano when it was at 11p and I went straight away to buy some only to come face to face with a nightmare. I only ended up being able to get $100 worth at 40p and now it is at 75p… kinda bums me out and makes me wonder how does this reflect on the “team”. Seems to me that if you have a truly great product it should be made easily available to the public. The team should also be aware that markets are VOLATILE and for new people coming in having to wait days and days to get their ADA, lots of price opportunities can be lost.
Anyhow, the result is that I have not been able to invest the kind of money I wanted to sink into ADA and now I majorly hesitate - not fun to pay 700% more than you wanted to originally.
BTC and the entire market is crashing slowly and from what we know about market crashes - usually they leave ruin in their wake…
…so at this point I am left just to hope for a huge devastating crash, and good prices. Maybe a big mistake - maybe ADA will go up to $5.00?? …or maybe it will sink…
That’s why I ask about what it can in fact currently do because if in truth it is currently only promises and a slick presentation - this may or may not hold up well when the SHTF.
Anyhow, for all those who got in early - I wouldn’t worry. it is clearly as good or better than any crypto out there, it will survive a crash, and hold it’s own.
I understand what you’re saying and your concerns, but the sale of cardano is not something they are really putting much effort i think. Doing crypto-fiat trades is normally a very regulated and time consuming activitie, and I don’t think it’s one of the main focus of any of the cardano developers right now.
The price is also not a major concern for the developers, because i believe they care more about the timeschedule on the features than the resistance of the cardano price in USD or EUR. Charles even has said that the goal is to get to a point where people don’t usually think of the price relative to other currencies (just like people don’t usually consider the dollar as priced in euros or vice-versa) and to have a whole cardano economy/ecossystem that integrates many of the things we are already seeing in the space.
So, even though it sucks that acquiring cardano is not so easy right now, they are mainly focusing on building the reasons that would make someone even want to have ADA.
As for the market ‘crash’, none of the fundamentals have changed in any of these currencies, and mot of them are still closing the year with 3 digitd growths, so for the older hodlers i think everything is still fine, a correction was bound to come with the meteoric rises we had been seeing.
Thanks for this informative answer but I still have to basically disagree > although admit that you know much more than me… still, this answer to me doesn’t make sense. Cardano PRIMARILY must be concerned about IF people will be satisfied with it because if it does not ‘catch on’ it doesn’t matter how great the code is.
Secondly, I think that a level-headed study of previous bubbles (including crypto bubbles) would reveal that a crash is forthcoming > in fact has already started. Hodlers have a lot of cognitive dissonance around this theme I know and I don’t blame them.
Lastly, I myself am constantly very concerned and aware of relative pricing between various National FIAT currencies… it seems naive to me to envision a world in which the only currency that we need to pay any attention to is ADA. This won’t happen. In the future we will have tons of currencies > that’s the whole point of INTEROPERABILITY, no?
I may have expressed myself badly when I talked about the price between currencies, what I meant by that is that people don’t give that much importance to this relation in their day-to-day lives because their national fiat is the one they will use to measure the value of products and services. Of course that in the future we will (I hope) live in a world with several currencies, both crypto and fiat, but since cardano aims to be the layer that integrates them, It would not be seen as much as an investment asset - even though the valuations in other currencies would still be extremely important - and so it would suffer from the same effect of having things valued mainly in ADA. What i meant was that the price of ADA in dollars is not one of the main metrics guiding development right now At least that’s my understanding.
In the bubble topic it’s very possible that you better informed than I am, since I tend to spend a lot more time looking at the technical side of the projects and don’t invest that much (not that much money to invest lol).
In the satisfaction point I agree with you that user experience is a really big issue but I don’t think that new user adoption is the focus on the short term, especially given the exponential growth we are seeing recently in the user base. That’s not to say it’s not important for building a platform with cardano’s ambitions, I agree with you that it must be widely used. However acquiring new users and giving a satisfying experience for the ones you already have are two different things that both require dedicated developers, and right now I believe they are heavily focused on improving the platform to something that can be mass adopted.
This is a similar situation than what happened to bitcoin, where the explosion of new people trying to use network clogged everything and made the experience this new users got a lot worse. This happened because the technical basis was not in place for the massive number of transactions the network was now required to do - which led to the high fees and all the politics we’ve bee seeing for the last few months.
What I meant with my last post is that the developers are mainly focused on making sure all the features they promised already existing users work as they should and come out on time. If they succed in doing this, and also resolve the scalability issue, they can start to work more seriously in ways to facilitate mass adoption.
Thanks already for this discussion, really liked listening to your doubts and hope I was able to be of some help
@epowell They are the number 5 coin without any directed marketing effort. Why would you believe they would not Catch on?
Asking why Team Cardano doesn’t make ADA available via a VISA card really misses a huge part of how this works. Team Cardano does not have an inventory of ADA sitting on a shelf somewhere. To obtain ADA, you first have to find someone who has some they are willing to part with. This is most conveniently accomplished at an exchange like Bittrex. Expecting Cardano to offer a buy now button is no different than expecting Starbucks to offer shares of their Corporation at the drive through. Use Nasdaq for Starbucks and Binance or Bittrex for ADA.
My sympathies to anyone who is having a hard time getting verified at any of the exchanges. It really is aggravating, but it really does not fall on the shoulders of the Cardano team. This is an all around epic time and the volume of new interest and applications are beyond the scope of what anyone could have prepared for. Lay your FOMO to rest. I believe we are early, VERY early. Get some as soon as you can and HODL.
Thanks for all of your replies - especially Castro for taking the time. I know probably I’m just ranting… but feel depressed at really really wanting to buy at 11p - and getting stalled and messed up finally left with a buying opportunity at 50p. That’s depressing. Especially since: a bit of my story > I began following BTC intensely in January 2017 - and felt at that time that $1000 was probably too much. I watched it many times daily for the next year, and just watched and watched as it went thru the roof, still never buying because I thought it would come down (obviously it didn’t) >>> so when I FINALLY really decided to buy something (ADA) I got stalled by all of the BS redtape at coinbase. What a waste!
Yes regarding crashes, I have become somewhat obsessed with the topic even to the point of taking many graphs of previous crashes and comparing them in photoshop to the current BTC charts… there is no doubt in my mind that the big crash has started because all of the big crashes behave the same way and the current chart is identical - it is uncanny. Put that together with all the other factors and you’ve got the beginnings of a huge crash. [but nobody can predict the future so I may be wrong].
Regarding the BTC (and crypto in general) crash my main question is how this will affect ADA. I have noticed sometimes ADA following along exactly with BTC and other times moving strongly in opposite directions. I suspect many people are sometimes now pulling out of BTC and shifting into ADA (at least temporarily). How will the BTC crash affect ADA??? ADA will survive no doubt - so will BTC, ADA might even come out to gain by the crash, or perhaps it will be knocked down hard. This is the reason for this thread > I suspect now that since ADA’s “superiority” is currently in anticipation of fullfillment of promises as opposed to applications already in full development - this might not be good for ADA if/when the crypto market gets flooded with panic. I can see people flocking to ADA if things get “bad”, but if things get “really bad” I think people will temporarily forget about cryptos and attempt to flock to the USD.
To be honest, I am particularly drawn to ADA not as a speculative investment so much but out of a sincere desire for an new usable, decentralized, anonymous for of money. I make things and sell them around the world for 1 or 2 G euros a pop. I hate transacting thru paypal and banktransfers etc and deeply desire just to transact thru something like ADA. But I feel really frustrated because it doesn’t work! What am I supposed to do, tell my clients to pay me in ADA?? How should they get ADA?? I should tell them that they must first somehow get some BTC — 10 DAYS of pissing around with exchanges, mega fees, and in those 10 days the value of their BTC just dropped 30%!!! …then they should go so some other exchange and get some ADA, then send it to me??? No client is going to do this!
So I understand and I agree that the developers are overloaded with work simply trying to catch up with their promises… but why not FIRST simply try to make the basic currency easy to adopt and use. Sure, I now see that it is not as simple as “keeping an inventory of ADA on hand to sell” >>> but hey (?) why not??? If they are so clever to solve all of these mega-monster problems, why is it impossible for them to solve THE MOST SIMPLE and BASIC issue: How to simply and easily BUY some ADA? Because this one hurdle is such a PITA so many new people will be turned off. I say, get creative and solve this first > and when you do, I will get all of my clients on ADA instantly, I will insist on it!
But as it is not nobody will use it like a currency - sometime I feel this is like a big charade … all this talk about currency, and “so many new users” and bla bla bla… nobody is using this, everyone is just speculating and trying to make quick money trading or storing value by hodling > otherwise nobody is using this as money.
“Early days”, yes “Very Early days!” …but then why are the prices so high and volatile.
Personally I just want some solid, secure, anonymous money I can send around that is easy to acquire, does not fly up and down in value so radically, rather just holds it value and very gradually simply goes slowly up…
After the last BTC crash it lay practically motionless for about 2 years! That must have been a beautiful tranquil time for BTC. It’s value was constant and it was quick, cheap, and easy to use… I doubt that there will be such a long quiet breathing period after this current crash - I have a suspicion that there will be a only a very brief buying period when everything hits a low bottom for a moment.
@epowell first of all take those virtual slaps…
…then stop thinking, read more, watch videos, let time pass, think of something else, read ‘The Black Swan The Impact of the Highly Improbable, by Nassim Nicholas Taleb’, read more, invest a little, let time pass, read more, how you feel? invest more?
You can’t let other decide for you, take a decision, you risk or you rather not. This crypto world can disappear in nothing or can make you millions, it is 50%-50%, if you wait for confirmations you will miss out in gains, less risk is less risk and less possible gains, more risk is more risk and more possible gains.
Life is a b*#@h, nothing is certain or that lasts, accept it and be a pimp or platonify and live in a bubble.
yeah… it’s a conflict of desires: 1) the desire to ‘get in at the beginning’, and 2) desire to ‘minimize risk’.
at a pure emotional level I think is much easier to see it going down after having bought than see it rise after not buying…
FOMO is the worse enemy of our generation and is stronger in the first case
You are exactly right! FOMO is a huge bummer. I’ve been closely watching cryptos all year long and I missed out on ALL profits completely!
ADA fans are going to be the only folks using it for the time being. If getting the project right should precede mass adoption, then let’s not try to push it.
I think it’s worth reiterating an above post that ADA made it to #5 on CMC without any marketing effort. It doesn’t need to be the shining star just yet. Give it time.
Sorry I didn’t read the whole thread, but you said:
"if you have a truly great product it should be made easily available to the public."
and you also ask “what is different about ADA right now?”
I would say, nothing is different RIGHT NOW, and they DON’T have a truly great product. They are in the process of building a truly great product. If they made it easier for everyone to buy in now, it would pump and crash like crazy, and they are trying to build a stable currency that can avoid the crazy volatility of crypto exchanges.
Don’t buy it now expecting it to have immediate utility or value to you as a consumer. The only reason to buy into it now, is to support the vision of Cardano, and to hold it for some day in the future when it does become something truly different then every other crypto currently on the market.