UNDERSRANDING OF BLOCKCHAIN

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Blockchain is a system of recording information in a way that makes it difficult or impossible to change, hack, or cheat the system.

A blockchain is essentially a digital ledger of transactions that is duplicated and distributed across the entire network of computer systems on the blockchain. Each block in the chain contains a number of transactions, and every time a new transaction occurs on the blockchain, a record of that transaction is added to every participant’s ledger. The decentralised database managed by multiple participants is known as Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT).

Blockchain is a type of DLT in which transactions are recorded with an immutable cryptographic signature called a hash.

This means if one block in one chain was changed, it would be immediately apparent it had been tampered with. If hackers wanted to corrupt a blockchain system, they would have to change every block in the chain, across all of the distributed versions of the chain.

Blockchains such as Bitcoin and Ethereum are constantly and continually growing as blocks are being added to the chain, which significantly adds to the security of the ledger.

Now for the purpose of this assignment i would be talking about projects under defi.

Now what is defi or Decentralized finance?

DECENTRALIZED FINANCE(DEFI)

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DeFi is short for “decentralized finance,” an umbrella term for a variety of financial applications in cryptocurrency or blockchain geared toward disrupting financial intermediaries.

DeFi draws inspiration from blockchain, the technology behind the digital currency bitcoin, which allows several entities to hold a copy of a history of transactions, meaning it isn’t controlled by a single, central source. That’s important because centralized systems and human gatekeepers can limit the speed and sophistication of transactions while offering users less direct control over their money. DeFi is distinct because it expands the use of blockchain from simple value transfer to more complex financial use cases.

Cutting out middlemen from all kinds of transactions is one of the primary advantages of DeFi.

Before it was commonly known as decentralized finance, the idea of DeFi was often called “open finance."

Now having gained undertanding of what blockchain is and defi, is right about time we delve into the matter.

CARDANO

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In 2015 cardano was conceptualized by Charlse hoskinson who also happens to be one of the co-founders of ethereum.

Cardano runs on a proof of stake protocol which allow users to earn passive income of up to 6% in a year simply for holding the coin in their wallet.

Just like eth cardano features smart contract which allows all kinds of application to be built on the cardano network. Just like facebook and google are built on the internet, developers are able to build decentralized applications or dabs on the cardano network.

Cardano is different from other crptocurrency projects because it is built around peer reviewed papers. So instead of writing a white paper and implementing it straight to code, the cardano team actually makes sure that experts from around the world read their papers and agree on it.

Cardano is the first provably secure proof of stake protocol.

Ouroboros is the first peer-reviewed, verifiably secure blockchain protocol, and Cardano is the first blockchain to implement it. Ouroboros enables the Cardano network’s decentralization, and allows it to sustainably scale to global requirements without, crucially, compromising security.

The protocol is the culmination of tireless effort, building on foundational research, and is propelled by a vision for more secure and transparent global payment systems, and a means to redistribute, more fairly, power and control.

POLKADOT

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Polkadot was created by Gavin Wood in an attempt to design a more evolved version of Ethereum, which would be interoperable with the existing independent, isolated blockchains such as Ethereum and Bitcoin.

Polkadot describes itself as a next-gen blockchain protocol that connects several specialized blockchains into one unified system/network. Their main aim is to return control to the people, as opposed to giant conglomerates.The basic features of Polkadot includes:

Promotes interoperability: By connecting all these different blockchains, Polkadot promotes unprecedented interoperability between these diverse ecosystems.

Scalability: A standard set of validators can operate the multiple blockchains connected via Polkadot. This helps increase scalability exponentially.

Innovation: Polkadot’s substrate framework enables you to create a custom blockchain easily. This ease of development should encourage more developers to participate in the system.

Removing forks: Forks can cause havoc and split up communities (just ask Bitcoin and Ethereum). Polkadot can integrate new features, fix bugs, and upgrade without needing to fork.

Better security: Polkadot coin allows chains to interact with each other meaningfully while remaining independent enough to run their unique governance models.

To understand Polkadot’s basic structure, we need to familiarize ourself with the following concepts:

Relay Chain: The base Polkadot chain is the relay chain that connects all these individual chains. As such, they can organically solve interoperability issues between these connecting chains.

Parachain: This stands for parallelized chains that run through the Polkadot network. These help scale up the system by parallelizing operations.

Bridge Chain: This chain connects different blockchains that don’t use Polkadot’s governance protocols.

WHAT IS POLKADOT SUBSTRATE

Having mentioned the word “substrate” a couple of times here already. In fact, substrate is one of the Polkadot project's core components, and in simple terms, it’s a framework used for building decentralized ecosystems. Polkadot is built using substrate, and all other projects built on it can run natively on Polkadot.

COMPARISON

Dr. Gavin Wood is the founder of Polkadot (DOT)while Charles Hoskinson is the founder of Cardano. far as technology goes; Cardano (ADA) and Polkadot (DOT) are both Proof of Stake.

Polkadot is essentially an ecosystem of blockchains called “parachains” that are connected to Polkadot (DOT)s core blockchain called the “relay chain”. These parachains will host all the smart contracts and apps in Polkadot ecosystem, and there will be an initial limit of 100 parachains. In contrast Polkadot, Cardano has a more original design. The Cardano blockchain has two layers the Cardano settlement layer, which keeps track of token balances and transfers, and the Cardano computation layer, which runs all the smart contracts Cardano uses a consensus mechanism called Ouroboros Proof of Stake (PoS) which allows the network to process a few hundred transactions per second.

There are currently over 1,500 validators that are collectively staking over 70% of all ADA in circulation. While Polkadot (DOT) has around 300 validators that are collectively staking over 60% of all DOT in circulation.

When it comes to tokenomics ADA has a current supply of around 31.8 billion with a maximum supply of 45 billion.DOT has a current supply of 960 million, and an initial supply of 1 billion. Logically the larger the supply the lower the value of the coin which is why DOT is worth $36 and ADA is worth $1,40 even though both have similar market caps.

CONCLUSION

Despite their radically different approaches to development Cardano (ADA) and Polkadot (DOT) seem to be evenly matched as far as specs go and whether you prefer one over the other ultimately depends on what you value more in a crypto project. I

If you value decentralization, then you probably prefer Cardano (ADA).

If you value staking rewards, then you probably prefer Polkadot (DOT) if you value interoperability, then Cardano (ADA) seems to be the winner, but if you’re on the hunt For the next 100x altcoin, you’ll probably find it in Polkadot enormous ecosystem ofcourse that's my own opnion as am not a financial advisor