According to new data from Kraken Intelligence, Cardano recorded significant growth in transaction volume during which the volumes of major cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin, ethereum, and dogecoin, were struggling amidst the dire crypto winter landscape.

Cardano’s On-Chain Transfer Volume Grows At Breakneck Spead

Cardano’s on-chain transfer volume continues rising steadily despite the crypto market slump earlier this year following the spectacular implosion of Terra that erased about $40 billion of value in the space of days and the bankruptcies of Celsius, Three Arrows, and Voyager Digital.

Kraken Intelligence noted that Cardano has enjoyed a 268% year-to-date (YTD) spike in on-chain volume and a 16% increase on a month-on-month (MoM) basis. Algorand saw the biggest YTD drop of 88%, followed by Dogecoin (84%), then Ethereum (68%), and bitcoin (18%). The leading meme coin was the worst performer MoM with a 54% drop in on-chain volume.

Kraken analysts attribute Cardano’s robust growth to the launch of the network’s first decentralized exchange (DEX) SundaeSwap and metaverse gaming app Pavia. Cardano developers also expanded the programmable blockchain’s block size by 10% as projects on the ecosystem surpassed 1,000.

Additionally, the euphoria around the upcoming Cardano Vasil hard fork also played a significant role in ADA’s on-chain transfer volume growth, Kraken Intelligence indicated.

The Vasil hard fork is expected to enhance significantly the Cardano network in terms of speed and scalability, making it more suitable for smart contracts and decentralized apps. After failing to launch in June, the much-anticipated hard fork was postponed again in July. According to the development lab for the Cardano blockchain, Input Output Global, it could be “a few more weeks” until the update is ready to go live on the mainnet.

$3 ADA Still A Pipe Dream

ADA is the eighth-largest crypto with a market cap of approximately $17.5 billion, according to CoinMarketCap data. However, despite being one of the crypto sector’s oldest and most prominent Layer 1 smart contract blockchains, it has failed to create a vibrant DeFi ecosystem like many of its immediate rivals. Per Defi Llama, it holds about $94.93 million in total value locked (TVL). The most prominent smart contract network, ethereum, has around $40.59 billion, while Solana holds $1.99 billion.

Cardano’s native token ADA peaked above $3.09 on September 2, 2021, and has lost 83.2% since then. The token has gained 1.17% in the past 24 hours to trade at $0.53.