Cardano Makes Major Strides in DeFi and Stablecoins Despite Q3 Challenges

Cardano (ADA) has shown significant progress in its decentralized finance (DeFi) and stablecoin sectors despite facing challenges in the third quarter of 2024. According to a Friday report by blockchain analytics firm Messari, the network’s Total Value Locked (TVL) saw a notable increase of 19% quarter-over-quarter to reach $620 million, indicating growing trust and activity within its DeFi platforms. This growth is particularly highlighted by Liqwid, a DApp whose TVL surged by 77.2%, showcasing the platform’s increasing adoption and utility within the Cardano network. In the realm of stablecoins, Cardano’s market has expanded, with the total stablecoin market cap growing by 5.4% to $20.7M. Notably, newer stablecoins like USDM from USDM Official have experienced a remarkable rise, with their market cap increasing by 145.5% to $7.9M. This growth outpaces established stablecoins, suggesting a dynamic and evolving stablecoin ecosystem on Cardano. The Cardano ecosystem also witnessed the launch of new applications like Rocket by JPG Store and Snek by Splash Protocol, which are similar to Pump.fun for token launching and trading, adding to the diversity and functionality of Cardano’s DeFi landscape. Despite these advancements, Cardano faced some downturns in Q3. The average daily decentralized application (dApp) transactions decreased by 54.2%, and the daily DEX volume dropped by 41.4%. These declines reflect broader market trends but do not overshadow the positive developments in DeFi and stablecoin sectors. That said, the Cardano community continues to engage actively with the platform’s development, as evidenced by the successful completion of the Chang Hard Fork’s first phase in early September. This technical bootstrapping phase was crucial for transitioning Cardano towards a fully decentralized governance model, empowering ADA holders with more control over the network’s evolution. Looking forward, Cardano is preparing for major governance advancements with the recently announced Plan 529, also known as Chang 2”, which lays the foundation for the Plomin hard fork. This upgrade will further enhance governance and network capabilities. Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson has shared his vision of Cardano becoming a leader in community-driven on-chain governance by 2025, with plans for a dynamic constitution to empower the community and transform the network into a fully decentralized autonomous organization (DAO). Innovations focused on scalability and interoperability are also expected to position Cardano at the forefront of decentralized finance, bridging traditional and blockchain systems. Despite a lackluster performance for most of the year, which caused a drop in its market cap rank to 11th position, ADA has shown a strong resurgence. In November alone, ADA surged by around 280%, climbing back to 9th.