Tracing the Cardano journey as ADA gains momentum

• In terms of dollar value locked, Cardano recorded impressive weekly and monthly gains.
• Riding on XRP’s legal relief, ADA’s value jumped 12% over the last week.

Proof-of-stake (PoS) network Cardano [ADA] has steadily evolved to become the beehive of decentralized finance (DeFi) activity. As per DeFiLlama, the total value locked (TVL) on the chain in ADA terms has been increasing steadily since hitting the 500-million-mark last month.

Source: DeFiLlama

Read Cardano’s [ADA] Price Prediction 2023-24

TVL registers impressive growth

TVL, or the total worth of all crypto assets locked on the smart contracts, remains the most popular indicator among DeFi investors. A higher TVL means more liquidity and therefore higher chances of the project’s adoption.

At the time of publication, around 589.04 million ADA tokens were deposited in various DeFi protocols on Cardano. Although this may seem significant, compared to ADA’s circulating supply, it equated to a paltry 1.73%. It should be noted that staked ADA coins don’t make up for Cardano’s TVL, simply because ADA remains liquid even after staking.

In terms of dollar value, Cardano’s locked capital surged to yearly highs of $209 million in the past week. While Cardano pales in comparison to other major blockchains in terms of DeFi TVL, it recorded impressive weekly and monthly growth rates of 13.65% and 37.46%, respectively.

DEX volume unimpressive

Cardano’s decentralized exchange (DEX) activity left a lot to be desired. After peaking in the last month of May, DEX volumes trended lower and stagnated over the past month.

Trades worth more than $43 million were settled on the network’s non-custodial exchanges over the past week. This represented a marginal fall of 1.66%.

Source: DeFiLlama

Future gains likely for ADA

The landmark ruling in the Ripple [XRP] vs SEC case has lifted the spirits of ADA holders. The coin, which was designated as a security last month, hoped that the relief granted to XRP would set a precedent.

How much are 1,10,100 ADAs worth today?

Riding on this sentiment, ADA’s value jumped 12% over the last week, as per CoinMarketCap data.

Whales sensed a bullish shift in ADA and started to accumulate the tokens. According to Santiment,  addresses holding between 1,000-100,000 coins increased steadily since the start of July.

Source: Santiment