Cardano’s ADA has been on a tear recently. It has outperformed other major cryptocurrencies and is still on a strong uptrend. Its momentum was boosted right after Coinbase announced to add staking for the crypto asset this Thursday.
A 40% spike
ADA increased by approximately 18.09%, officially reaching $1.13 – a level not seen in 7 weeks. This 40% increase in value has made it the best performing asset within the top ten list.
ADAUSD chart. Source: TradingView
While the ADA is no doubt benefiting from the crypto market’s recovery, an influx of capital flowing into Cardano ecosystem is actually the primary reason behind its impressive growth.
The total value locked (TVL) inside the Cardano protocal increased from nearly $130 at the start of the month, to more than $421 million (including staked governance tokens) at press time. This marks the highest level it has ever reached.
However, even with Cardano’s explosive growth this year, other competitors in DeFi such as Ethereum and Solana still have a far more impressive number. According to DeFi Llama, an on-chain statistics platform, both have staggering valuations of $120.71 billion and $7.3 billion, respectively.
Coinbase, a premier cryptocurrency exchange in the US, has allowed its users to earn rewards on their Cardano (ADA) funds.
Coinbase expands staking offerings, offering 3.5% rewards for staking ADA
Rupmalini Sahu, Coinbase’s senior product manager, published a blog post on March 24 announcing that the exchange will expand its staking offerings to include ADA. The new staking service is expected to provide a seamless experience for retail users to participate in the Cardano network. Their crypto assets can be staked in exchange for yield.
According to Sahu, Coinbase chose ADA because it is currently in the top ten largest cryptocurrencies in the market, and it has a “more flexible, sustainable, and scalable” proof-of-stake blockchain design. Like Ethereum, Cardano also supports smart contractsm and developers are welcome to create their own decentralized applications or mint non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
Coinbase is now offering 3.75% rewards for ADA staking, requiring participants to hold their tokens for 20-25 days. Once the period ends, users may begin receiving their rewards every 5 to 7 days. The return rates will greatly depend on the number of participants.