Cardano sees network growth despite ADA’s poor state

• Contracts on the Plutus and Timelock scripts jumped.
• Network activity increased but ADA’s price dropped to $0.47.

The number of smart contracts deployed on the Cardano [ADA] network has been growing since the year began, Cardano Blockchain Insights showed. 

At press time, smart contracts on the Plutus script V2 had increased. When the year began, it was around 6,296. But at the time of writing, the number has climbed to 17,718. It was a similar case with the Timelock script which jumped from 115,469 to 118,364.

Source: Cardano Blockchain Insights

Cardano has the scripts on lock

Smart contracts are programs stored on the blockchain. They are used to execute agreements between participants who agree to specific conditions. In this instance, no intermediary is involved.

The Plutus script plays a vital role in Cardano Improvement Proposals (CIPs) as it determines whether a transaction is allowed to spend a UTXO. It was also part of the Alonzo hard fork. 

Implemented in 2021, the Alonze hard fork allows native asset functionality to enable smart contract development. 

On the other hand, the Timelock scripts are typically used for Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) and were part of the Allegra hard fork which allows users to lock up tokens.

Sometimes back, AMBCrypto outlined Cardano’s impressive presence in terms of development activity. So, it is likely that updates like the ones stated above contributed to the landmark. 

ADA falters but a change could be close

However, the project’s native token has continued to struggle. At press time, the price of ADA was $0.47. According to CoinMarketCap, this value represents a 21.55% decrease in the last 30 days. 

But price action was only one of many metrics that lacked growth. AMBCrypto went ahead to evaluate the project’s on-chain status and found that some other metrics were down too.

One of the affected metrics was the Weighted Sentiment. Using Santiment’s data, we discovered that the Weighted Sentiment tumbled from -0.12 to 0.50. Weighted Sentiment examines the pessimistic or optimistic view of a project around the crypto community. 

Though one can say both readings were still negative. However, the plunge implied that more market participants were bearish on ADA. In simpler terms, the broader market does not expect any notable movement from ADA. 

Instead, they believe that the price could continue to nosedive. But it was a different situation with the 24-hour active addresses.

Source: Santiment

Active addresses show the daily level of crowd interaction with a project. As of this wrting, active addresses on the Cardano network were 47,100. 

This number was a significant uptick from the 25th of January when it was 32,300. If the active addresses continue to grow, it could help change ADA’s bearish path. 

Realistic or not, here’s ADA’s market cap in ETH terms

This is because the increase could be a bullish signal. So, market players might want to keep an eye on it.

While ADA’s price could still decrease, a continuous increase in the active addresses could trigger an upside reversal.