The Cardano blockchain was in fact created by the co-founder of Ethereum and Ethereum Classic. ADA is unique in that coins are minted using a “proof-of-stake” algorithm called Ouroboros, instead of a “proof-of-work” one. This means that new coins are only minted after achieving distributed agreement on the matter. This same mechanism makes blockchain creation energy and cost efficient. Holding ADA coins allow you to vote on the minting of new batches of coins and generate new blocks while verifying transactions on the blockchain.