Cardano is a blockchain platform that is getting a lot of attention, and although it has many advantages, it also has some significant disadvantages and challenges. Here are some of the main disadvantages of Cardano:

1. **Slow Development Progress**: Cardano is known for its rigorous academic and peer-reviewed approach, but this approach has also resulted in a relatively slow development progress. Although this approach improves security and reliability, it may lag behind competitors in the rapidly evolving encryption market [36 † source ] [ 37 † source ].

2. **Incomplete smart contract and dApp ecosystem**: Although Cardano has introduced smart contract functionality, its decentralized application (dApp) ecosystem is still not as rich as Ethereum. Many developers and projects prefer to use Ethereum, resulting in Cardano's user and developer community growing relatively slowly [35 † source].

3. **Transaction processing speed and scalability**: Cardano’s current transaction processing speed and scalability still need to be improved. Although it is theoretically capable of processing 257 transactions per second, this speed is still insufficient compared to some competitors such as Ripple [36 † source].

4. **Over-reliance on the core development team**: Although Cardano is moving towards decentralized governance, it is still highly dependent on its core development team and founder Charles Hoskinson. This dependence may limit the decentralized development of the platform [38 † source ].

5. **Low market acceptance and penetration**: Compared with Bitcoin and Ethereum, Cardano has lower market acceptance and penetration. This may affect its promotion and use in practical applications [37 † source ].

Despite these shortcomings, Cardano is actively improving its technology and ecosystem, such as by introducing second-layer solutions such as Hydra to improve scalability, and developing Midnight sidechains to enhance privacy protection [35 † source] [ 38 † source 】. These efforts show Cardano’s potential for long-term growth. #ada未來 #ADA