With an audience exceeding fifty thousand on YouTube, Lee the Captain outlines why, at this moment, Cardano (ADA) takes priority over Ethereum (ETH) in his playbook.
Curious traders often ask why pick ADA when ETH already holds the number‑two spot by value. His answer centers on potential return, present valuation, and how much long‑term runway remains, considering tokenomics.
ETH has already notched a fresh cycle record, a sign of dominance. Should ETH advance to $10,000, he estimates the upside from here would be shy of a three‑times move.
By contrast, ADA has yet to set a new peak this run. Using today’s circulating float, a $10 tag on ADA pencils out to roughly an 11× lift; a tempered mark near $5 still points to a fatter multiple than ETH reaching $10k. That back‑of‑napkin math is why ADA appeals to him now.
Chart: ADA price
ADA vs ETH: Fame isn’t the same as upside
He acknowledges Ethereum enjoys broader mindshare and likely keeps that edge thanks to adoption. Fame can add stability, yet it also tends to mute the kind of explosive upside newer networks can deliver.
Cardano may not be the biggest, but he doesn’t label it fragile. Charles Hoskinson—one of Ethereum’s original co‑founders—designed Cardano as a Layer‑1 aimed at efficiency and throughput for a resilient blockchain ecosystem.
User experience differs in practice. ETH transactions can carry notable fees, even though modern Layer‑2 networks ease costs. ADA transfers generally stay inexpensive, and base‑layer scaling makes broader use easier to imagine. ETH benefits from a rich L2 stack, he adds, yet he personally favors Cardano’s scale‑first approach on the main layer.
Market Cap check: the Cardano and Ethereum gap in focus
To reinforce the thesis, he runs a valuation check using market capitalization. Ethereum sits near $500 billion, while ADA priced at $10 would place Cardano around $358 billion—levels he views as plausible for a leading Layer‑1.
He also notes this cycle hasn’t delivered a genuine season for alts. When rotation arrives, assets like ADA can swing harder than ETH simply because they begin from a lower base.
Rather than chase quick spikes, he sticks with DCA—buying a fixed amount on a schedule—accumulating ADA over time instead of hunting for the perfect pattern.
ETH remains robust and widely integrated, but in his view ADA offers more room to surprise once momentum rotates. That doesn’t remove risk; he just sees a stronger risk‑to‑reward skew with Cardano right now, a point aligned with basic risk management.
Lee the Captain isn’t saying Cardano will beat Ethereum across every metric. He respects ETH’s role as the dominant smart‑contract platform.
His emphasis is the relative upside: if the next leg of the market cycle tilts toward altcoins, ADA’s price could outpace on a percentage basis, even as Ethereum likely continues to lead in adoption. From today’s levels, he views Cardano as the more compelling growth setup.
