Cardano is nearing its largest upgrade yet. Can smart contracts keep the gains coming?
With altcoin season now becoming less of a season and more of a year-round celebration, the race to win over market share is becoming more competitive and yielding more impressive products. Developers are revolutionizing digital currencies at breakneck speeds; as one network adopts a technology that investors flock to, the others must race to build their own iteration of it while creating other innovative technologies of their own. With news coming out of the Cardano (CCC:ADA-USD) camp, it seems that the network will be getting on board with smart contract tech, allowing it to compete with huge players like Ethereum (CCC:ETH-USD). The news is creating a record high for Cardano’s ADA coin’s price, and investors want to see some Cardano price predictions.
Cardano has been implementing a series of upgrades to its network through the summer, each with the “Alonzo” name. The newest, Alonzo Purple, will be the most sweeping update of them all, allowing Cardano users to utilize smart contracts. The testnet for the network is currently live, and as of last night, users are able to utilize test smart contracts on-chain. The main launch is slated for a Sept. 12 arrival.
The implications for smart contracts are huge. They will allow the network the automatically verify transactions when they meet specified criteria, allowing faster transactions. As such, it will also lead to increased scaling, making the amount of contracts the chain can process at one time much higher.
Cardano Price Predictions Soar as it Attempts to Steal NFT Market Share
Another facet of the smart contract update is that the contracts allow for non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on the Cardano network for the first time. NFTs have seen a resurgence in the last few weeks since their late 2020 boom, with buyers shelling out hundreds of thousands of dollars on the art.
Currently, Ethereum holds a vast majority of the total NFT market on its network. Meanwhile, the power consumption required to run this multi-million dollar market is almost nothing; it only accounts for around 1% of the total Ethereum network.
Cardano is the third-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, trailing only Ethereum and Bitcoin (CCC:BTC-USD). With its dedicated user base, the network can really put a dent into Ethereum’s dominance over such a hugely popular industry.
Credit to @ investorplace
