Cardano has lately been in the spotlight for all the right reasons, including being on the list of the most environmentally-friendly cryptocurrencies thanks to its efficient proof-of-stake consensus approach.

Major coins like Bitcoin turned bearish due to the bad rep which is threatening its adoption. The world is moving from fossil fuels to renewable energy, thus any major technology that consumes a lot of electricity is bound to receive criticism over the type of energy it uses. Cardano’s efficient approach fueled a significant rally that allowed it to weather the effects of the recent bear market better than many other digital coins in the market.

A macro look at ADA’s performance reveals that its performance in May was overall bullish, which means it closed the month at a higher price level than its opening price for the month. In contrast, Bitcoin had a bearish month in May. ADA’s May performance is a big deal because it managed to defy Bitcoin’s price pull. Most cryptocurrencies move in tandem with Bitcoin price movements.

The daily chart indicates that the price did turn bearish at around mid-May. It tanked from a high of $2.47 before bouncing back after finding support near the $1 level. The cryptocurrency has demonstrated a healthy performance and even traded as high as $1.77 on Monday morning. The price is also crossing above its 7-day moving average, indicating that it is still experiencing a strong bullish performance.

 Although a more efficient mining mechanism has supported the currency’s performance in the last few days, it will take much more than that to push the price higher. Fortunately, there is one particular event that can potentially provide another substantial boost.

Cardano’s upcoming Alonzo upgrade

Cardano’s upcoming upgrade has already started rolling out the testnet for the Alonzo upgrade. The move aims to introduce smart contracts to the Cardano network, which will make it a direct competitor for the Ethereum network.

Smart contracts will be extremely important in facilitating the internet of value because they eliminate middlemen and facilitate faster fulfillment of transactions without additional costs. The Cardano network is faster and more efficient than the Ethereum network, thus the new features will make it more appealing. Full smart contract functionality is expected on the mainnet in August.

The addition of smart contracts to the Cardano network is a critical step because it will introduce support for DeFi applications. The introduction of more features is expected to contribute to ADA’s growth as the network taps into more utility. Some analysts still believe that ADA is still heavily discounted even at the $1.69 price range considering the upcoming developments and their impact on its network.

Cardano might be strategically positioned to leverage more growth for ADA because the remaining part of this year’s bull market coincides with the Alonzo upgrade. There is a chance that it could grow to Ether levels in the next few years as the network becomes more widely adopted. That kind of outlook appears farfetched but not so much when you consider that cryptocurrencies like Ether and Bitcoin traded at ADA’s price levels once upon a time.  ADA’s current price consolidation after reaching all-time highs in May is reminiscent of the consolidation that occurred before the Shelley hard fork in April 2020, before going on a huge rally.

There is a chance that ADA’s current consolidation and the upcoming fork will be history repeating itself. If that is the case, we might still see some more consolidation in the next few days but the long-term outlook is still bullish.