The DeFi ecosystem of Cardano has reached a milestone with over 637 million ADA locked, as the web3 industry and digital assets gain mainstream adoption. This growth has contributed to a significant increase in the value of the altcoin, which has surged by more than 59% in the past four weeks, reaching a trading price of over 61 cents.
Cardano, a rapidly growing layer one (L1) blockchain designed to facilitate the mainstream adoption of the web3 industry and digital assets, has developed into a mature ecosystem that secures billions of dollars. Over the past year, the Cardano core developers have been actively preparing for the highly anticipated bull market expected in the next 24 months.
According to a recent report from the Input-Output Group, the Cardano network has recorded more than 80 million transactions as of December 15, 2023, with a total of only 153 decentralized financial (DeFi) projects.
The Cardano network has strategically implemented policies to enable DeFi developers to easily create applications that appeal to novice crypto investors. In the competitive landscape of layer one blockchains, the focus is primarily on building applications that attract mainstream users to utilize smart contracts for secure and scalable global transactions.
Since the adoption of smart contracts, on-chain activity on the Cardano network has experienced exponential growth. As a proof-of-stake secure blockchain, Cardano has attracted both institutional investors and retail traders looking to diversify their crypto portfolios. Currently, more than 22.98 billion ADA has been staked by over 345,000 addresses, allowing them to passively earn and secure the network.
The popularity of Cardano’s smart contracts has significantly increased over the past year, with over 637 million ADA locked in all smart contracts. Market data from Lookerstudio reveals that the number of Cardano-based smart contracts has surpassed 9,000, driven by the mainstream adoption of web3 protocols. Specifically, the Alonzo hard fork introduced the Plutus V2 Script, resulting in approximately 8,000 Cardano-based smart contracts as of December 24, 2023. Combined with the Plutus V1 scripts, which amount to around 6,200 contracts, the Cardano network now boasts a total of over 14,000 smart contracts.
Some of the top-rated decentralized applications on the Cardano network include the jpg.store NFT marketplace, which has over 21,000 unique accounts, and the Minswap decentralized exchange (DEX), with more than 35,000 unique accounts. Other notable DeFi protocols on the Cardano network include Liqwid Finance, Muesliswap, and SundaeSwap. The Djed algorithmic stablecoin has also experienced significant growth on the Cardano network, playing a crucial role in stabilizing the 9.17 million native tokens.
In terms of price action and analysis, ADA has seen a remarkable rally of over 60% in the past four weeks, reaching a trading price of $0.666. With a market capitalization of approximately $21 billion and an average 24-hour trading volume of around $831 million, this mid-capped altcoin is on the verge of a major bullish breakout. The weekly Relative Strength Index (RSI) has surpassed the 70 level for the first time in two years, indicating a potential upward trend. In the short term, Cardano’s price has been consolidating within an ascending triangle pattern, suggesting a possible bullish breakout in the coming weeks.
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