Too Long; Didn't Read
Cardano describes itself as a 3rd generation platform and wants to significantly improve those things that have been identified as shortcomings in 1st generation (Bitcoin — decentralized money) and 2nd generation (Ethereum — smart contracts) blockchain platforms. The aim is to reduce the bandwidth required for data dissemination and communication. The main limitation here is the proof-of-work consensus, called Oroboros, which is based on a random number. It divides the time in which the consensus is created into epochs, and chooses according to the random number the slot leader, which performs the function similar to a Miner, but without the same effort (HW& energy)