-
Cardano is a struggling Ethereum killer that has failed to gain traction.
-
Its total NFT volume sales have been in a freefall.
-
Cardano DeFi volume has also fallen sharply.
Cardano has been one of the top disappointments in 2022. After going bonkers in 2021, ADA price has plunged by more than 89% from the highest level in 2021. Cardano’s market cap has plunged from more than $90 billion to slightly above $10 billion.
The fall of Cardano
Cardano, a blockchain project that became extremely popular in 2021. It was developed by Charles Hoskinson, an Ethereum co-founder, and is managed by IOHK. It is an Ethereum killer that aims to solve the challenge of speed, stability, and costs.
Cardano’s popularity rose in 2021 as investors looked for a viable and clean alternative to Ethereum. It became a good alternative because of its promise of speed and low transaction costs.
A lot has happened since Cardano went mainstream. For one, the developers introduced Alonzo hard fork, which introduced smart contracts. As a result, it made it possible for developers to create applications in the network.
Since then, thousands of developers have embraced the network. However, a closer look at most of the apps in its ecosystem have not been encouraging. For example, data compiled by DeFi Llama shows that Cardano’s DeFi ecosystem has a TVL of more than $74 million.
This means that Cardano is actually smaller than many blockchains, including Aurora, Canto, Moonbeam, and Celo. It seems like most DeFi users prefer the mainstream DeFi platforms like Uniswap, dYdX, and GMX.
The same trend is true with its NFT ecosystem. According to CryptoSlam, the volume of NFTs traded in Cardano has been in a strong downward trend. It handled just $8 million NFT transactions in November. In contrast, Ethereum handled over $19 million worth of NFTs in the past 24 hours.
Cardano also has no major market share in industries like gaming and the metaverse. Therefore, at this stage, I don’t think that Cardano is a good investment.
Cardano price prediction
Is it safe to buy Cardano? The daily chart shows that ADA price has been in a bearish trend in the past few months. It has collapsed below all moving averages and the important support level at $0.3896, which was the lowest level in May and July.
Cardano has moved below all moving averages while the Average True Range (ATR) has continued falling. This is a signal that volatility has fallen. The Average Directional Index (ADX) has fallen to the lowest level since November. Therefore, Cardano will likely continue falling as sellers target the key level at 0.25, as we wrote here.