The Cardano (ADA) network continues to experience growth in the deployment of smart contracts on its blockchain, a significant factor driving the platform towards its goal of competing with established entities like Ethereum (ETH).
As of January 24, the cumulative number of V1 and V2 Plutus smart contracts on Cardano reached 24,050. This figure reflects a 9,671 or 67% growth from January 1, 2024, with a count of 14,379, according to data retrieved from Cardano Blockchain Insights.
Notably, the growth in smart contracts builds upon the 2023 expansion, where the platform added almost 10,000 contracts in alignment with increased development activity.
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Cardano increased development activity
The surge in smart contracts also coincides with a previous report indicating that the team working on the Plutus Core language executed common subexpression elimination (CSE) for Untyped Plutus Core.
Following this implementation, the platform has experienced notable improvements, with moderate and significant enhancements observed in the costs and sizes of most scripts. It is crucial to highlight that Plutus Core serves as the programming language bridging the gap between smart contracts and the ultimate settlement layer of the Cardano blockchain.
In line with increased network development, data from Cardano builder Input Output Global (IOG) revealed that 157 projects were launched, with 1,319 projects actively being developed on Cardano as of the week ending January 19.
At the same time, since the start of 2024, Cardano has witnessed several releases, including Marlowe and the first Hydra release of the year, along with an upgrade to the Lace wallet.
Cardano price analysis
Despite the increased network development activity, the price of ADA is significantly tied to the general market trajectory. By press time, ADA was valued at $0.47, showing daily gains of about 0.6%, while on the weekly chart, the token is down by 10%.
Based on the current trading pattern, ADA is facing support at the $0.45 level, while $0.50 remains the key resistance zone.
