Over $30 billion worth of Cardano’s native token, ADA, has been staked amidst a major transitional milestone in the network’s evolution, one that could set the stage for wider network adoption, more considerable price appreciation for the cryptocurrency, and stiff competition in the smart contract cryptocurrency sector.
What is Cardano?
Cardano is an open-source project which aims to “redistribute power from unaccountable structures to the margins to individuals,” helping to create a society that is more secure, transparent and fair. The token is used by agricultural companies to track fresh produce from field to fork, while other products built on the platform allow educational credentials to be stored in a tamper-proof way, and retailers to clamp down on counterfeit goods. In addition, the project has launched its long-awaited smart contract platform called the Alonzo. Its mainnet launch is scheduled for later this year.
READ: Cardano defying crypto market correction, up by 12%
What you should know
Cardano’s staking allows users to earn passive income in the form of ADA without having to lock up their assets for a certain period of time. By comparison, other protocols specify a minimum lock-up period for earning staking rewards.
Roughly 71.7% of ADA’s circulating supply, worth roughly $31 billion at today’s prices, has been staked across 2,665 active pools, according to PoolTool.
Cardano is the most capitalized cryptocurrency in terms of staked value. Data shows that Ethereum’s staked value is a distant second at $12.2 billion. Solana, Polkadot and Algorand round out the top-five.
At current values, ADA is the fifth-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization.
READ: Ethereum suffers biggest one-day percentage drop since March 12, 2020
What this means
Investors remain bullish on ADA in anticipation of full smart contract implementation later this year, which is set to put the platform in crosshairs with the likes of Ethereum, Solana and Chainlink. As Nairametrics reported, Input Output Hong Kong (IOHK), launched the Alonzo test net in May, paving the way for smart contract capability, with the possibility of its mainnet launching as early as August.
In a June 11 update that appeared on YouTube, IOHK revealed that Alonzo could run smart contracts. ADA is currently trading $1.33, down 2.84% for the day.
Nairametrics