• Strong development activity on the Cardano blockchain has helped attract more users to the network.
• Right from smart contracts implementation to DEXs, these have been some fueling agents propelling growth for Cardano.

Over the past year, there have been some major developments in the crypto space, and Ethereum competitor Cardano has been one of the top performers. The Cardano blockchain has grown significantly over the last year based on the rise of the number of wallets of the native ADA tokens.

As per the data provided by Cardano Foundation, the number of Cardano wallets since December 2020 has surged by more than 1200 percent. With less than 200,000 ADA wallets last Christmas, the number now stands to a staggering 2.5 million wallets as of December 24, 2021.

ADA’s price action follows the Cardano ecosystem’s growth

The popularity of Cardano’s native cryptocurrency ADA grew along with major developments taking place in the Cardano ecosystem. The Cardano blockchain network has experienced growth powered by some major upgrades.

One of the biggest upgrades taking place to the Cardano blockchain was the Alonzo hardfork. This hardfork introduced the much-awaited smart contracts to the Cardano blockchain. Besides, it also witnessed adoption by other crypto projects but hasn’t gathered much steam like other Ethereum Layer-1 competitors. However, as noted earlier this month, the number of smart contracts place on Plutus, a Cardano-based smart contracts platform has reached a total of 888.

Overall, the developments taking place in the Cardano ecosystem have served as a catalyst for the ADA price. ADA has surged multiple places to become the top ten cryptocurrencies by market cap. Currently, ADA is the sixth-largest cryptocurrency in the market trading at $1.45 with a market cap of $48.4 billion. Besides, Cardano’s ADA is also trading at around 900% price gains year-to-date.

What does the growth in ADA wallets indicate?

The surge in the number of Cardano wallets represents a strong growth of the Cardano community. Besides, it also comes along with a significant surge in the number of users on the Cardano blockchain network.

The surge in the number of Cardano wallets also indicates that a majority of the existing ADA holders are retail investors. These holders hold a small number of native tokens as Cardano moves towards full decentralization.

Apart from just smart contracts, the launch of decentralized exchanges (DEXs) on the Cardano blockchain has also served as a driver in boosting the ADA price. Furthermore, a large number of Ethereum users have moved to Cardano due to the low gas fee. In 2021, Cardano also emerged as a strong alternative to Ethereum. Developers have been keen on launching their products on the Cardano blockchain network.