Number of Cardano smart contracts grows over 300% in 2022

Since the introduction of the smart contracts feature on the Cardano (ADA) network, the metric is recording increased growth helping the network inch closer to battling established platforms such as Ethereum (ETH). 

As of November 26, the total number of smart contracts based on Plutus, a smart contracts platform by Cardano, stood at 3,791. The value represents a growth of 300% or 2,844 in 2022 after recording 947 smart contracts on January 1, data retrieved from Cardano Blockchain Insights shows.

Notably, the spike in the number of Cardano smart contracts follows increased network development aiming to enhance the feature’s functionality. According to Cardano, the team recently worked on increasing script capacity, the Plutus Debugger MVP, alongside finalizing the rollout of implementation of full Babbage support in the Plutus tools before its release. 

Furthermore, Cardano recently launched the Plutus DApp resource page for developers. The new feature aims to enable beginners to learn about decentralized apps (DApps) while developers can learn about building DApps using Plutus smart contracts. 

Smart contracts growth accelerates 

It is worth noting that Cardano’s number of smart contracts has accelerated in recent months after the platform officially rolled out the Vasil hard fork upgrade on September 22. The hard fork seeks to improve decentralized finance (DeFi) network scalability. 

Interestingly, the growth of the smart contract comes despite initial concerns over the impact of Vasil on the feature. In this case, the community feared the upgrade would be detrimental to the smart contract functionality. 

However, Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson noted that the team had taken the right steps to ensure that smart contracts are compatible with the changes, eliminating the need for re-writing. 

Indeed, besides smart contracts, Cradano’s onchain development has been central to the network’s increased popularity. Notably, the team’s focus has been on improving Cardano’s core technology and its Lace wallet growth. Overall, the Cardano Foundation also outlined its plans for 2023 with lined up developments. 

ADA price action

In the meantime, the price ADA is still affected by the crypto market fallout induced by the FTX crypto exchange collapse. By press time, the token was trading at $.32 with losses of about 1% in the last 24 hours. 

The Cardano community believes the ongoing network development activities will drive the value of ADA due to projected adoption. In this line, the community utilizing the price estimates feature on CoinMarketCap predicted that ADA would end 2022 on high to trade at an average price of $0.41 on December 31, 2022.

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