As the long-fought battle between bitcoin and ether rages on, newcomers are climbing up the ranks with underlying technology upgrades set to push them onto the main stage — if scammers don’t get to them first.

Smaller tokens known as altcoins have been steadily rising in popularity this year, with one cryptocurrency quickly pulling ahead. Enter cardano, which started 2021 at $0.17 and has jumped 116% so far in August alone to reach $2.90.