Messari’s “State of Cardano Q2 2023” report, authored by Protocol Research Analyst Red Sheehan and released on 4 August 2023, provides a detailed look at the status of the Cardano network and ecosystem as of the end of Q2 2023.
Network Overview
The report notes that the average transaction fee on the Cardano network increased by 8.5% QoQ, but it’s still down by 50.8% YoY due to lower ADA prices. Interestingly, while daily active addresses saw a slight decline, the average daily transactions increased by 1.9% QoQ, indicating that existing users are becoming more active.
Cardano’s blockchain load also saw a significant increase, reaching over 50% in Q2. This is a positive sign as it indicates increased network usage. The report also mentions the launch of a UTXO Selection Benchmarking tool by dcSpark, which could help increase Cardano’s transactions per second (TPS) and bandwidth.
Financial Overview
Despite a 26.9% QoQ decline, ADA’s price is still up 12.0% YTD. The report highlights ADA’s use cases, including settling network fees, participating in network consensus, and staking to secure the network and earn token rewards. Additionally, ADA is used to reward voters and fund projects in Project Catalyst, Cardano’s decentralized innovation engine.
The report also mentions the SEC’s allegations against ADA, which led to a significant drop in ADA’s price. However, it points out that a recent court ruling in the SEC’s case against XRP could provide some insight into ADA’s legal status.
Ecosystem Overview
The Cardano ecosystem saw a significant increase in daily dapp transactions, with a 49.0% QoQ increase in Q2. Minswap, an automated market maker (AMM), emerged as the most popular Cardano dapp by transactions in Q2.
The total value locked (TVL) in Cardano also increased by 9.7% QoQ to $151.7 million, despite ADA’s price decline. This growth has boosted Cardano’s TVL ranking among all networks from 34th to 21st in 2023.
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