- The crypto community expects ADA to trade around $2.40 by year’s end.
- ADA was trading at $1.28, down almost 3% in the past day.
The latest Cardano network update that included smart contract functionality has seen tremendous growth, strengthening the platform’s competition with larger competitor Ethereum.
The Cardano Foundation announced on December 8th that the number of smart contracts based on Plutus, a Cardano-based smart contract platform, has reached 888. The Cardano Foundation noted on Twitter that the number of Plutus-based smart contracts on the Cardano blockchain has grown from 300 in mid-November to almost 1000 now.
Developers Support Proves Crucial
Thanks to the September Alonzo upgrade, Cardano now has a decentralized finance (DeFi) application development platform and programmability. So the current milestone implies Plutus is getting developer traction. Cardano stated in September that 800 companies seeking to utilize the network had sought $4M in financing. Initially, Cardano developers Input-Output HK announced that Plutus Pioneer sessions were conducted for developers during the update.
IOHK said in a blog post:
“Thousands of developers have been taking part in the Plutus Pioneers course, learning the fundamentals of Cardano’s native development framework. Scores of projects have already started developing in Plutus and are at various stages of expertise and readiness.”
Although Cardano has improved the network, the smart contract functionality was a game-changer for the ecosystem. The success of Cardano hinges on developer acceptance and the amount of Dapps integrated.
Cardano has stated that users and developers should anticipate hiccups in the early phases of development. The network’s continuing development is also likely to influence the future price of the network’s native coin ADA.
For example, the crypto community expects ADA to trade around $2.40 by year’s end. ADA was trading at $1.31, down almost 8% in the past day. Reflecting that ADA is not immune to the crypto market slump.
