Cardano’s strong Q4 2023 finish means Q1 2024 will…

• The network revenue jumped while active addresses increased.
• Transactions on Cardano DApps continue to increase, suggesting a climb in ADA’s value.

Though Cardano [ADA] went through different phases of struggle in 2023, the recent report released by Messari showed that the fourth quarter (Q4) brought some relief. One area where the Cardano network excelled was its revenue. According to the report, the project’s revenue increased by 66.7% on a Quarter on Quarter (QoQ) basis.

During the period mentioned above, Cardano’s revenue grew to $1.43 billion. AMBCrypto identified two reasons the revenue jumped.

First, ADA’s price had an amazing performance in the quarter. Besides that, there was also an increase in transaction fees as activity on the network jumped. The report read,

“The average transaction fee (USD) increased by 50.4% QoQ from $0.10 to $0.15. Also, the disparity indicates that ADA’s price action was almost completely responsible for the increase denominated in USD.”

Starting slow is not the end

This year, ADA’s price started on a slow note. But in the last seven days, the price has increased by 10.90%, suggesting that the token could still contribute immensely to the revenue in Q1 2024.

Further, Q4 2023 brought about an increase in average daily transactions.

There was a 1.6% QoQ growth in active addresses and a 10.9% climb in transactions. The increase in transactions was proof of utility on the Cardano network. Concerning the reasons for the jump, Messari explained that:

“The increased average activity per user could be a result of all the newly launched and developed protocols in 2023 — specifically DeFi protocols.”

Previously, AMBCrypto mentioned that Cardano’s Total Value Locked (TVL) saw an improvement lately. However, the recent report gave in-depth details about what propelled the hike.

The TVL measures the overall health of an ecosystem by considering liquidity deposits and activity with Decentralized Applications (DApps) built under it.

Source: Messari

More may be in store for ADA

For Cardano, there were two major drivers of its TVL. First, it was Miniswap, the Automated Market Maker (AMM). The second one was Liqwid Finance, a lending and liquid staking protocol.

Based on the report, transactions on Miniswap increased by 140% during the quarter. Also, Liqwid Finance registered a major increase in transaction volume.

AMBCrypto analyzed if the DApps had maintained a similar momentum. According to data from DeFiLlama, we noticed that the TVLs of Miniswap and Liqwid had increased by 13.08% and 23.34%, respectively, in the last 30 days.

Source: Messari

If market participants continue to show belief in these protocols, then Cardano’s TVL could hit another high before Q1 2024 ends.

However, not every part of the Cardano ecosystem experienced growth. For instance, the number of stake pools went flat while falling by 0.06%.

Staking also affects ADA’s price since the native token can be used to register a stake pool. Recently, we mentioned how ADA might have the potential to hit $1.

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

But besides the technical outlook, an increase in usage of the token might positively affect the price action.

If staking activity on Cardano changes for the better, then ADA’s price might inch closer to $1. If not, the cryptocurrency might not hit the milestone in Q1.