ADA, the token that powers the smart-contract-enabled Cardano blockchain, has been surging on Tuesday. The cryptocurrency, the world’s eighth largest by market capitalization according to CoinMarketCap, was last up around 8.5% on the day, with ADA/USD changing hands in the $0.39 area, giving it a market cap of around $13.5 billion.
ADA is getting a lift from a broader rally being seen across the crypto space – Bitcoin was last up 1.7% and Ethereum around 3.0% on Tuesday, with traders relieved that the latest US inflation numbers, while still hot, weren’t as bad as some had feared. Cardano’s latest rally has seen it rebound more than 13% from earlier weekly lows in the $0.34s, with the cryptocurrency now slightly above its 200-Day Moving Average once again.
While most cryptocurrencies are trading with reasonable gains on Tuesday, Cardano is outperforming and is the best performer in the top 20. Analysts have pointed out a few bullish developments relating to the Cardano blockchain and ecosystem that could be powering this outperformance.
Firstly, Cardano is set to implement a major upgrade on Tuesday called the “Valentine upgrade” that will introduce new Plutus SECP cryptographic primitives to the blockchain. According to Input Output Global (IOG), the company responsible for Cardano’s development, the upgrade is designed to “foster secure cross-chain DApp development with Plutus, while advancing blockchain interoperability”.
Elsewhere, Cardano’s new USD-pegged stablecoin Djed, which was created by IOG and Coti and launched on the blockchain a few weeks ago, continues to see impressive growth. There is now a circulating supply of 2.239 million DJED, backed by 30.89 million worth of ADA tokens, which have a current market
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