Cardano (ADA), the Ethereum competitor is up 29% over the past 24 hours. ADA is currently trading at $0.67, according to data from CoinMarketCap.
ADA is the native token of Cardano, the proof-of-stake layer-1 blockchain that offers stiff competition to Ethereum.
The token is now the sixth-largest cryptocurrency with a market capitalization of $22.6 billion, overtaking Ripple’s XRP.
Despite today’s bullish action, ADA is still down 78% from its all-time high of $3.10 recorded in September 2021.
There has been a sharp rise in the coin’s trading volume across major cryptocurrency exchanges too. Its trading volume hovers around $2.4 billion over the past 24 hours, 272% up from the previous trading day.
What’s driving Cardano?
The primary reason behind today’s bullish action has been increased DeFi activity on the layer-1 blockchain and the launch of Lagon’s cross-chain bridge.
In August 2021, Cardano launched its Alonzo fork bringing the ability to develop DeFi applications on top of Cardano. Following the Alonzo fork, the coin jumped more than 116% in less than a month, according to data from CoinMarketCap.
Since the launch of the Alonzo fork, a total of 92 decentralized apps are built on Cardano according to Cardano's showcase.
Today, many of these applications are seeing an uptick in activity.
According to Defi Llama, the Total Value Locked (TVL) on Cardano rose by 30.56% over the past 24 hours, indicating increased DeFi activity. The TVL on Cardano currently stands at $194.87 million up from $149.25 million recorded yesterday.
Minswap, a decentralized exchange (DEX) platform and the largest DeFi protocol on Cardano showed increased user activity too. The TVL on the platform increased 21.7% from $56.13 million to $74.01 million over the past 24 hours, according to data from DeFi Llama.
Other than Minswap, other protocols include WingRiders (a DEX platform), Sundaeswap (also a DEX), and Meld (a lending protocol) also reported an increase of TVL by at least 15% over the past 24 hours.
Apart from TVL, the total transaction volume on the Cardano also saw a steep increase from $9.57 billion to $14.24 billion over the past 24 hours, according to data from Messari.
Elsewhere, on May 25, Lagon tweeted about the launch of a cross-chain bridge to facilitate token transfers between Ethereum and Cardano. The bridge currently supports only USDC, but will also soon open up to all ERC-20 tokens.
“We believe that our solution powered contributes Cardano development & growth,” tweeted Lagon, the organization responsible for the development of Ethereum and Cardano cross-chain bridge.
Meanwhile, the largest cryptocurrency on the market, Bitcoin (BTC), is up 2.95% over the past 24 hours and currently trades at around $31,559.
Ethereum (ETH) is up 3.26% over the past 24 hours and currently changing hands at $1,970.
Disclaimer
The views and opinions expressed by the author are for informational purposes only and do not constitute financial, investment, or other advice.