Cardano’s Q1 Growth Fueled by DeFi TVL and Technological Developments

• Cardano’s DeFi Total Value Locked (TVL) experiences a 172% surge in Q1 2023.
• Technological advancements include Layer-2 solutions and sidechain developments.
• Cardano’s native coin, ADA, recorded a 54% price gain in Q1 2023.

According to a new report from crypto analytics platform Messari, Cardano saw a tremendous growth leap in Q1 2023, with nearly tripled Total Value Locked (TVL) in decentralized finance (DeFi) and substantial technological breakthroughs. The proof-of-stake blockchain network has seen increased adoption of new stablecoins and network scalability improvements, as well as virtual machine (VM) compatibility enhancements.

The report highlights that Layer-2 scaling solutions have been deployed on the Cardano mainnet, while sidechains, such as Milkomeda C1 and IOG’s EVM sidechain, are also being developed to increase cross-chain compatibility. The blockchain has also expanded its programming language support to include Python, TypeScript, Marlowe, and Helios, making it more accessible for developers.

DeFi TVL on Cardano grew by 172% quarterly, from $50.8 million in Q4 2022 to $138.3 million at the end of Q1 2023. Stablecoin volume on the network increased by 261% from $2.8 million in Q4 to $10 million at the end of Q1, with the largest volumes coming from Indigo’s IUSD and Djed’s DJED. The dominance of major DEXs such as Minswap, SundaeSwap, and WingRiders declined due to increased interest in new protocols.

Cardano’s native token, ADA, saw a 54% price increase in Q1, with a price of $0.44 as of April 18, 2023. The platform’s treasury balance grew by 100 million ADA to 1.21 billion, with a 9.1% and 66% QoQ growth in ADA and USD terms, respectively. In USD terms, the treasury balance increased by $278 million to $460 million.

Despite the overall growth, Cardano experienced quarter-on-quarter declines in new addresses (up 71.5%) and average daily transactions (up 10.6%). Daily NFT transactions on the network also fell in Q1, down 27%, as daily unique buyers shrunk by 23%.

Furthermore, the Cardano Foundation recently issued its inaugural Annual Report earlier today, outlining the project’s accomplishments of 2022. Per the report, the Foundation has revised its delegation policy to reward stake pool operators (SPOs) that continually provide Cardano-building tools to serve the expanding community. The Foundation also claims to have aligned the Cardano Improvement Proposals (CIPs) process with optimal open-source principles.

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