ADA to go vertical?
Almost no other blockchain generates as much controversy and food for discussion as Cardano. Maybe it’s due to Charles Hoskinson indisputable charisma (haters call it his ability to hide Cardano’s uselessness behind a show of smoke and mirrors). Maybe it’s the blockchain’s positioning as a force for good (Cardano announced cooperation with African nations early on).
Either way, ADA has reached impressive highs despite lacking a convincing product or much of a product at all. Recently, though, that has been changing, and Cardano TVL has been growing fast as a result. The Alonzo hard fork that saw smart contracts launched on Cardano led to several new DEXes launching on the blockchain. Money has been pouring into the Cardano ecosystem despite growth pains, with Cardano targeting several major upgrades to its blockchain later this year, too.
However, the price of ADA continues to struggle and does not reflect the “reality on the ground.” At the time of writing, ADA continues to trade around $1 AUD, well off its all-time highs set in summer 2021. The Cardano community is confident this will change soon, and a recent poll indicated that a majority sees ADA hitting the psychological milestone of $5 ($6.50 AUD) this year. This would imply a 500% surge from current prices.
The Cardano bull case
That may seem like a lot to ask in bearish market conditions, but we all know that anything can happen in crypto. Furthermore, there are some legitimate reasons to believe that Cardano is due an upside price correction.
First, its Hydra layer-two scaling solution would resolve Cardano’s current throughput problems. Even though Alonzo launched smart contracts, Cardano cannot deal with the influx of transactions to its network, which results in the same congestion problems that Ethereum is facing. With Hydra scheduled to launch later this year, the scalability and throughput of Cardano could leapfrog rival blockchains, and the price of ADA would duly see massive growth.
Furthermore, IOHK (Cardano’s development arm) has announced further upgrades for June and October. These would allow Cardano to reach its full potential in decentralised finance and NFTs and potentially become the Ethereum challenger it has long promised to be.
Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson agreed with this assessment:
“What most also don’t understand is that many Cardano DApps are waiting for the Vasil hardfork in June to launch to benefit from pipelining. So it seems we ain’t seen nothing yet on TVL”
Add to that the fact that Cardano is the most-developed-on blockchain in 2022, and we could be looking at a virtuous cycle of growth. As most other blockchains are stretching their capabilities and have already experienced their “15 minutes of fame,” Cardano’s fundamental improvements could mean it is finally its time to shine. $5 ADA may not seem as crazy in December 2022 as it does now.