Cardano gains 8% amid increased dapp and NFT activity in Q4

Messari’s State of Cardano Q4 2022 report shows the network witnessed a significant increase in daily transactions, decentralized application (dApp) transactions, and NFT trading volume in Q4 2022. The price of ADA has been up by nearly 8% in the last 24 hours.

Cardano, the distributed ledger technology (DLT) network that powers ADA, the world’s 7th-largest cryptocurrency, had a sterling performance in Q4 2022, despite the numerous dark events and high-profile bankruptcies that plagued the web3 space during that quarter.

According to Messari, a provider of crypto market intelligence products and services, Cardano had a solid Q4 2022 due to several factors, including a dedicated community of users and developers, a boost in NFT sales, and the emergence of new projects within the ecosystem.

The crypto industry experienced several highs and lows in 2022; The early stages of the year were significantly more positive than the latter, especially in the fourth quarter. In the bearish markets in Q4, the daily transactions on the Cardano network saw an impressive 12.9% increase despite a 24.3% fall in daily active users.

State of @Cardano Q4 2022 is LIVE!

+Daily transactions (13%) and dapp transactions (16%) increased
+@DjedStablecoin, @emurgo_io, and @Indigo_protocol announced stablecoins
+4th largest NFT chain by sales volume in Q4
+Active stake hits ATH

Full Q4 report below ? pic.twitter.com/Ojodu52PEd

— Messari (@MessariCrypto) March 17, 2023

This translates to the fact that despite the decline in daily active users, the users that stayed back during the turmoil were more engaged and committed to using the platform.

The report noted that the increasing prominence of decentralized applications (dApps) in the ecosystem and a reduction in network fees from $0.17 to $0.11 (36.6% decrease) are leading factors in the network’s ability to retain its community of active users.

Development Analysis in the ADA ecosystem

Despite falling TVLs characterized by the bearish nature of the markets in Q4 2022, the Cardano ecosystem experienced significant progress in areas including staking, stablecoins, NFT projects, and synthetic assets by Indigo Protocol, the report notes.

Cardano’s staking protocol has experienced quarterly and yearly growth, recording an all-time record of 25.5 billion ADA staked, increasing by nearly 74% from the previous quarter.

NFT sales within the platform also experienced a surge in Q4, partly due to the successful launch of the NFT projects on Cardano, like OREMOB, an anime project. NFT sales on Cardano averaged $440,000 daily and sold a record-high $1.5 million on October 21, 2022. The total sales of NFTs amounted to $40.5 million in Q4 alone, making Cardano the fourth largest NFT chain by sales volume behind Immutable X ($56.7 million).

The stablecoin sector in the ecosystem is growing, with more stablecoin projects beginning to launch on the Cardano network. In November 2022, EMURGO revealed that it was working on launching its stablecoin, USDA, set to be the first USD-backed stablecoin on Cardano.

Cardano started 2023 on a strong footing by releasing the Valentine upgrade to boost interoperability and improve cross-chain functionality. It impacted the network’s efficiency and price action after its launch. The upgrade created buying pressure on the token, increasing the price after it went live.

Cardano is trading at $0.36 with a 24-hour trading volume of $427 million, indicating an 8.4% price pump in the last 24 hours.

Cardano price in 2023 | Source: CoinMarketCap

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