The TVL of Cardano underwent a staggering surge, but NFT transactions experienced a sharp decline. As of the time of reporting, ADA was undergoing a significant price correction, with a decrease of 5%.
On the 19th of April, Messari dropped a bombshell report on Cardano [ADA], detailing its performance during the first quarter of 2023. In a twist of fate, one of the most eye-catching revelations was that Cardano’s market cap skyrocketed by over 50% QoQ, leaping from $8.6 billion to a whopping $13.2 billion.
This monumental growth also propelled Cardano to the 7th position on the roster of cryptocurrencies by market capitalization.
https://t.co/lH2RZxqn6P
— Messari (@MessariCrypto) April 18, 2023
Performance analysis of Q1
Messari’s report mentioned that despite a massive uptick in market cap, the Cardano network failed to attract new users. New addresses and average daily transactions decreased QoQ by 71.5% and 10.6%, respectively.
Source: Messari
Cardano’s transaction fee increased in the last quarter but was still less than what it was in Q3 2022. The possible reasons behind the decrease in transaction fees could be due to network traffic being more consistent in Q1 than in Q3.
Cardano’s DeFi space flourished
Cardano’s performance in the DeFi space was commendable, as it registered an increase of more than 172% QoQ. The blockchain’s total value locked (TVL) went from $50.8 million to $138.3 million.
Messari’s report also mentioned that this massive boost in DeFi performance could be attributed to the adoption of Djed stablecoin in the network. The stablecoin debuted in Q1 2023 with day one’s minting amounting to $1.8 million.
Source: Messari
A look at Cardano’s state in the NFT spaceÂ
Cardano’s performance in the NFT space met with a few roadblocks. For instance, daily NFT transactions declined by 27% in the last quarter.
Additionally, daily unique buyers also followed a similar route and declined by 23%. Interestingly, the number of unique buyers in Q1 greatly exceeded the number of unique sellers. There was a total of 8,900 verified NFT projects on Cardano.
Source: Messari
Cardano NFTs in Q2 2023
Data from Santiment revealed that the total number of NFT trade counts declined since the beginning of the new quarter.
Source: Santiment
It was also interesting to see that on the one hand, the number of unique sellers increased by more than 300%, while on the other, the number of unique buyers declined in the last 30 days. Nonetheless, Cardano’s NFT sales volume registered an uptick, which was optimistic.
Source: CRYPTOSLAM
ADA’s future looks bright
The whales were highly confident about the state of ADA since the beginning of Q2. This was quite evident from the high whale transaction count. Not only that, but positive sentiments around ADA also spiked of late, reflecting the crypto community’s trust in the token.
Source: Santiment
However, at the time of writing, ADA was facing pressure as its price declined by more than 5% in the last 24 hours. The token was trading at $0.4174 with a market capitalization of $14.5 billion.
It will be interesting to analyze the direction that Cardano takes in the upcoming months, particularly in light of its impressive market cap growth and the recent decline in its token value. The performance of the token in the coming days could shed light on the market’s perception of its future prospects.
