Cardano\ADA is a third generation crypto currency, and WILL be the crypto that finally REPLACES Bitcoin.
1. Cardano\ADA is proof of stake crypto currency only. This means there is no more environmentally damaging waste of massive amounts of electricity required to sustain it. There is no mining. Also there will no trust damaging hard forks.
2. Cardano\ADA has a multi layered protocol approach that has smart contracts much like Ethereum, but implemented in another layer so that it will scale well beyond what Ethereum is capable of.
3. Cardano\ADA will have cross chain atomic swaps between other crypto currencies like Litecoin and others are implementing. This will allow for decentralized exchanges and the ultimate in flexibility and interchangeability.
4. Cardano\ADA will have a transaction transparency regulatory compliance mode to meet the needs of government agencies and financial institutions if enabled for the transaction.
5. The Haskell application programming framework will greatly simplify the creation of mobile apps for use with Cardano.
6. IOHK the parent company of Cardano is also the developer of Ethereum Classic. (check out:
https://iohk.io/projects/cardano/ )
7. For more information and a deep dive into the technical aspects of Cardano please see this YouTube video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ja9D0kpksxw