The Cardano blockchain has seen substantial growth over the last year with a series of developments, including the long-awaited smart contracts functionality.
The number of wallets for the blockchain network’s native coin, ADA, has increased dramatically. According to data from the Cardano Foundation, the number of wallets has increased by over 1,200 percent in a year, from 190,000 last Christmas to 2.5 million on December 24, 2021.
The addition of additional wallets inevitably leads to an increase in the total number of users on the network. In the same time span, the network’s native token has increased by over 850 percent, indicating that the network is gaining traction.
The year 2021 has been a defining moment for Cardano, with its Foundation CEO Frederik Gregaard praising the year as a “year of amazing progress” for the cryptocurrency network in a blog post.
According to Gregaard, the year 2021 was one of “sustained growth, technical innovation, community expansion, and partnerships” for the Cardano network. The CEO emphasised various on-chain developments, which he believes indicate that adoption has increased.
Furthermore, the expansion follows the foundation’s announcement earlier this year that it would devote 2021 to growing the Cardano community.
The Cardano network is said to have grown to have over 2.5 million native assets produced on it since the blockchain began accepting numerous assets on March 1. 2 million of the 2.5 million assets are claimed to be non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
The substantial increase in wallets could indicate that the bulk of present ADA holders are retail investors holding tiny quantities of the native coin as the blockchain develops towards full decentralisation.
Around 74 percent of the ADA supply has been staked on the network, generating curiosity among investors while they wait for more decentralised applications to be released.