Development on the Cardano network has seen the platform record growth, with the new smart contracts feature continuing to attract more developers.
Between December 13, 2021, and January 13, 2022, the number of smart contracts based on Plutus, a Cardano-based smart contracts platform, has added 72 projects growing from 897 to 969.
The increasing number of smart contracts on Cardano validate the notion that the network will likely emerge as a major competitor to Ethereum, which is dominating the space.
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Although Cardano is relatively a new player in this sector, the growth of the smart contract by over 8% in a month is a significant milestone as the network moves to become the go-to blockchain for the development of decentralized apps.
The smart contracts feature that followed the September Alonzo upgrade saw Cardano enact several measures to entice developers. For instance, a $4 million fund was established, attracting almost 800 projects intending to use the blockchain.
The achievement comes after Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson revealed that the delays in rolling out the smart contract feature resulted in a negative perception. However, he acknowledged being impressed with the progress.
“We had to rewrite the software three times; there were major changes in architecture and vendors. There were approaches taken that didn’t work out; there were, of course, delays,” he said.
The smart contract is among the latest features that are contributing to Cardano’s adoption. As reported earlier by Finbold, Cardano was the most developed cryptocurrency project on Github in 2021, alongside Kusama and Polkadot.
The network’s developments are also part of Cardano’s push for sustainability. Notably, the Cardano Foundation recently revealed that a restoration project using Cardano had attained its initial target of planting over one million trees.
ADA’s price
Cardano backers project that the ongoing network upgrades and adoption will likely act as a catalyst to the growth of ADA, the network’s native token. By press time, ADA was trading at $1.27, dropping 0.9% in the last 24 hours with gains of over 2% over the previous seven days.
Following the recent cryptocurrency market correction, ADA is making a recovery with NeuralProphet’s PyTorc-based price prediction tool, projecting that the coin will surge to $3.60 by March 1, 2022.
