Cardano growth stagnates in Q3 – Here’s a rundown on what went wrong
- Cardano experienced a decline in network activity and revenue between July and September.
- In the last month, the blockchain network saw the most development activity.
Proof-of-Stake (PoS) Layer-1 network Cardano [ADA] experienced a period of stagnant growth in the third quarter of the year. Most key metrics either declined or remained flat during the three-month period, Messari found in a new report.
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According to the data provider, the network witnessed a decline in network usage in Q3.
Between July and September, the average count of daily active addresses on the blockchain totaled 41,137. This represented a 29% decline from the 58,000 recorded during the year’s second quarter.
The decline in the user count on Cardano caused its transactions count to fall in Q3. The Layer-1 network recorded a daily average count of 60,356 in transactions during the quarter, marking a 12% drop from the 69,000 recorded between April and June.
Further, the average transaction fee paid by Cardano users to complete transactions on the network fell. According to Messari, the network’s average transaction fee denominated in US Dollars decreased by 21% from $0.13 to $0.10 during the quarter.
Likewise, fees denominated in the network’s native token ADA also fell by 3% quarter-over-quarter (QoQ).
As a result of the drop in transaction fees, Cardano’s revenue plummeted. Messari found that in Q3, the network’s revenue fell by 30%.
Regarding the network’s decentralized finance (DeFi) vertical, its total value locked (TVL) remained steady.
According to Messari:
“TVL (QoQ) was steady, declining 0.1% QoQ. Cardano’s TVL ranking among all networks increased from 21st to 15th during Q3 (starting at 34th at the beginning of the year). This shows that while TVL did not grow in absolute USD terms, it grew relative to other ecosystems. TVL (USD) staying flat despite ADA’s nearly 10% QoQ price decline suggests growth and asset diversification.”
Interestingly, while the decentralized applications (dApps) housed within Cardano experienced a 15% decline in average transaction count, the chain’s NFT vertical saw its trading volume go up by almost 20% during the quarter.
Between July and September, Cardano recorded an average daily NFT trading volume of $600,000.
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Some respite?
In the last month, Cardano led other blockchain networks in terms of Developer Activity. This metric offers insights into a crypto project’s commitment to creating a working product and the likelihood of shipping new features.
A high Development Activity often reduces the possibility of the project being an exit scam. Often measured in GitHub events, Cardano’s Developer Activity totaled 505 in the past 30 days.
⚡️Top #Crypto Projects by Developer Activity in October
30 October 2023 #Cardano – 505#Polkadot – 427#Hedera – 380#Aptos – 340#Chainlink – 300#Cosmos – 287#IOTA – 272#Avalanche – 250#MultiversX – 138#Radix – 127Data source: @Santimentfeed$ADA #ADA $DOT #DOT $HBAR… pic.twitter.com/NlZnMRCAyA
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