Cardano’s ecosystem finally beginning to take shape

Cardano’s ecosystem is starting to take shape, although fans will still have to wait for the release of decentralised applications.

Cardano taking it slow for now

Cardano fans and investors have not had it easy, as they have been the centre of many jokes at their expense due to the ecosystem’s agonisingly slow pace of development. Although smart contracts on Cardano did sort of go live this year, they also did not really since there are no applications actually using them. Followers of other ecosystems quipped that Cardano was at least in the lead in terms of security, as so far, there have not been any exploits on Cardano since there was no activity. 

The price of Cardano has not really reflected this lack of activity, and investors are happy with the research-oriented approach. Cardano’s price marked a new all-time high around $4 AUD earlier this year, although it has since retraced as part of the wider market correction. 

Future Cardano plans

Even though Cardano is still technically a wasteland, at least plans for an ecosystem are coming along quite nicely. A couple of wallets such as Daedalus, Yoroi, and Ray Wallet already work and allow ADA holders to stake their tokens at an average APR of 5%.

Cardstarter and OccamFi are IDO platforms for Cardano startups that are to help future projects help launch on Cardano. Amusingly though, both are so far building on Ethereum and waiting to deploy on Cardano. 

Another big focus of Cardano applications will be environmental-friendly and sustainable projects like OpenLitterMap, an open database based on Cardano metadata that locates trash and litter. Empowa, a platform that wants to enable African communities to improve living conditions, is another such project.

Cardano also plans to have a vibrant DeFi space with all the staples of decentralised finance already live on other chains. There are: 

• Automated market maker DEXes like ADAX, an automated liquidity protocol.
• Native scalable DEXes like SundaeSwap.
• Gateways between centralised and decentralised exchanges like Orion Protocol.
• Ray Wallet, a decentralised platform that plans to make smart contracts available to everyone. 
• Lending and borrowing protocols that are open-source and non-custodial such as MELD and Liqwid.
• Stablecoins like STASIS, Ardana, and AgeUSD.

Finally, NFTs will also feature on Cardano. Adazoo is a planned NFT game, CNFT is an NFT marketplace, ARTANO is an NFT project focused on artificial intelligence, and Bondly Finance plans a digital platform for offering NFTS to brands and artists.

Does Cardano need to step on it?

All of that sounds good, but when is it coming? That are more or less the thoughts of every crypto investor, save for those already committed to the Cardano ecosystem. The blockchain has rightly drawn a lot of criticism for its exceedingly slow approach that has opened up a gap in development experience that may be very hard to close in the future.  

Charles Hoskinson, the charismatic founder of Cardano, recently addressed major issues facing the blockchain. However, suppose cryptocurrencies enter a bear market. In that case, he may soon be faced with a whole different set of problems, as investors could eventually lose patience in the face of no applications on Cardano. It may be time for Cardano to start releasing stuff sooner rather than later.