Cardano’s native cryptocurrency ADA is once again making headlines after achieving a new all-time high of $3.10 earlier today as the bulls took control of the market.
ADA is currently one of the most valuable cryptocurrencies and one that has already delivered impressive growth this year thanks to critical development to the Cardano network. The cryptocurrency is up 8.38% today, pushing its value to $3.06, while its weekly gains have increased 18.72%. Its performance in the last 3 days was quite impressive considering that it traded as low as $2.71.
Source: Binance
ADA’s price pump today is courtesy of a combination of factors including the Bitcoin rally which led to a bullish sentiment for the overall market, making it easier for other cryptos such as ADA to rally. The bull run was also fueled by an official announcement by IOHK that the Cardano testnet now supports smart contracts. The announcement also revealed that final testing will take place in the next few days before the smart contract launch is expected to take place on the Cardano mainnet on September 12.
IOHK has delayed the smart contract launch for some time and so the announcement that smart contracts are now available on its testnet is a strong sign that the mainnet launch is close. Blockchains usually test any developments or upgrades to their networks on a testnet to make sure that those upgrades work perfectly and without bugs before they are launched on the mainnet.
The testnet launch confirmed that the company is on track to bring the upgrade to the mainnet on the expected date on September 12. ADA might achieve some more gains in the days leading up to the smart contract mainnet launch. This is often the case when blockchains have an upcoming major launch and their native tokens tend to experience some uptick in the days leading up to the launch.
The integration of smart contracts into the Cardano mainnet will put the network in the fast lane to becoming one of the most attractive networks for decentralized apps and DeFi. It will compete more effectively with other major networks such as Ethereum but the lower fees on Cardano might attract many crypto projects. It is thus expected that the Cardano protocol will grow fast in value within the next few months and such organic growth will also contribute to higher demand for the ADA token.
Higher demand at constant supply leads to a price increase, although token burns may also contribute to favorable price action in the future. Cardano’s long-term outlook is thus favorable and some analysts expect that it might even reach $5 and above in the future. As far as the short-term performance is concerned, the RSI is still in the oversold zone despite the latest gains, suggesting that there is room for more growth, especially in the week that the smart contracts will be launched.
Sydney has 20+ years commercial experience and has spent the last 10 years working in the online marketing arena and was the CMO for a large FX brokerage.
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