With the unsustainable gas fees and general uncertainty associated with Ethereum (in its current form), many projects and investors alike are seeking out alternative platforms. Due to the nonexistent barrier to entry for creating tokens on Ethereum and the plethora of dodgy “DeFi” shell games, I personally have ERC-20 token fatigue and am only still buying/holding those that are tied to established projects which have been steadily building things for years. When someone alerts me about an exciting new project, and I look it up and discover it’s merely another Ethereum token, I almost immediately lose interest and am less likely to take it seriously.
As far as competitors to Ethereum, Polkadot and Cosmos are two of the more promising ones which get a lot attention. I have nothing against those projects, but I recognize that as an investor I’m already too late to cash in on those parties. DOT and ATOM are already trading at 4 or 5 dollars each respectively. The ideal time to buy ATOM would have been back when it was sitting at around 1.13 or so back in March. Sure, there is likely to be more upside still on these coins, but I personally would rather look at blockchains that offer comparable functionality but which haven’t already been hyped into oblivion and are still available at bargain prices. Algorand (which I have a small position in) and Zilliqa are two such attractive options. Perhaps I will write about those projects another time, but instead I want to focus on my favorite Ethereum competitor, and that’s Ardor (ARDR). However, no article that mentions Ardor and Algorand would be complete without at the very least pointing out that Nxt (developed and operated by the people who created Ardor) has a better claim to being the “first pure proof of stake blockchain” than Algorand.
Ardor is operated by Swiss-based (but originally incorporated in the Netherlands) company, Jelurida. The most straightforward and succinct description of Ardor can be found directly on the Jelurida website:
Ardor is a multichain blockchain platform with a unique parent – child chain architecture. The security of the whole network is provided by the parent Ardor chain while the interoperable child chains have all the rich functionality.
Also worth noting (in terms of its position as an alternative to Ethereum) :
Ardor is created with scalability in mind and solves many existing industry problems such as blockchain bloat, single token dependency and the need for easily customizable-yet-compatible blockchain solutions.
Another aspect to consider is that while nearly every Ethereum competitor makes claims about their scalability, and superior tech which will subsequently attract governments and enterprise businesses to build on their blockchain, they’re often speaking in hypotheticals and potentialities. It’s always amusing when I look at a project’s “use cases,” and they consist mainly of imagined scenarios where their blockchain could possibly, theoretically be used at some point in the future. Meanwhile, Ardor is already established and has been up and running for years. They are already partnering with governments, and Ardor’s use cases are typically things which exist in the here and now (and I haven’t even scratched the surface in looking at their partnerships).
One such promising use case is Triffic, an augmented reality mobile app that rewards users with crypto in the form of “GPS tokens.” It is basically a game where you earn crypto just by walking or cruising around. You have the opportunity to gain larger rewards by locating “beacons” of various kinds. The best way to describe Triffic is that it’s similar to games like Pokemon GO, except instead of battles, you get rewarded for real world exploration and finding random objectives. This app is live, readily available, and you can download it right from the iPhone App Store and begin using it, as I have. I’m impressed with Triffic so far. The only issue I’ve noticed is that they haven’t implemented the “withdraw” function yet, so there’s no way to move your GPS tokens to a different wallet or exchange once you earn them. I’m told they’re working on this, but I haven’t received a specific date for when this (necessary) feature will be available. I personally think it should be a high priority, considering how popular the app is quickly becoming. In the meantime, I’ll just continue to earn GPS tokens on my nightly walks of solitude and reflection.
Ardor has one of the more intriguing crypto communities, with eccentric geniuses like TheWireMaster and “Zark Muckerbarn” facilitating high level discussion (that often goes over people’s heads). Every crypto community has its own unique character, ethos and social atmosphere. In the case of Ardor, it is definitely a higher IQ environment. People make frequent use of quick-witted humor, offering pointed criticism and candid analysis of blockchains/projects deemed subpar and overrated. Favoring substantive value, real world use and technological competence, the community also has been known to demonstrate an extreme aversion to “DeFi” ponzi shemes and garbage projects of all kinds. Perhaps my tendency to occasionally nose around the crypto trash and dumpster dive for redeeming qualities will make me something of an outsider in this world, but I’m going to hang around anyway.
A random aspect I’ve found fascinating about Ardor is how—for some strange reason—90’s style, alien imagery features prominently in Ardor’s community memetics. Apparently the “alien” memes originated around the time some community members launched “DeadFish,” a DeFi parody token that runs on the IGNIS childchain of Ardor. Regardless of the original intent behind these alien memes, they could be said to symbolize Ardor’s broader position in the crypto space, in that Ardor is highly advanced and vastly superior to most other blockchain systems, yet it operates cerebrally in the background, quietly innovating and racking up tangible accomplishments while observing humans doing stupid human things. I’m not sure how a platform that’s as efficient and impressive as Ardor has been able to remain undervalued for this long. It has an elaborate, highly advanced ecosystem in place and its own mini-empire of blockchains/childchains. Where did this come from, and how did it get here? Yeah, I’m not saying it was aliens, but it was Ardorians.
If you enjoyed this article feel free to send me some ARDR
ARDR Address: ARDOR-LRM9-FWFY-RA9W-CS8LN