Cardano Transaction Fees Jump 254% QoQ as ADA Price and Activity Soar
Cardano experienced significant DeFi and stablecoin growth in the fourth quarter of 2024, owing to greater adoption as TVL, transaction volume, and network involvement expanded.
Cardano (ADA)‘s price increased by 126% in Q4 2024, while its market capitalization expanded to $30.3 billion. This price increase propelled ADA’s circulating market cap ranking from 11th to 9th.
The rises in price and market capitalization coincided with the November US election and the broader cryptocurrency boom.
As a result, Messari’s most recent report shows that transaction fees in USD increased 254% quarter on quarter to $1.8 million, reflecting a 95% year-on-year (YoY) rise driven by rising token values and transaction activity.
State of Cardano: DeFi, DEX Figures Surge
The average daily transaction volume on Cardano increased by 65% quarter over quarter, reaching 71,500. This occurred amid a 58% quarter-over-quarter increase in average daily active addresses, which reached 42,900. Meanwhile, the average USD transaction cost rose by 80% to $0.23, while the ADA fee fell by 2% to 0.34.
Messari explained that the network efficiently handled the increased transaction traffic while maintaining native costs.
Cardano’s average daily Dapp transactions declined 8% to 14,300 in the fourth quarter. The top-performing Dapps by transaction volume were Minswap, Liqwid Finance, and jpg.store. Among these, Minswap had the greatest impact on overall Dapp activity, keeping its position as the most active application on Cardano.
Minswap, the network’s top DEX, had over 200,000 traders and a total trading volume of $3.1 billion by the end of the fourth quarter. Meanwhile, the average daily DEX volume on Cardano increased 271% quarter over quarter to $8.9 million, with Minswap, WingRiders, and SundaeSwap leading the way. DEX trade volume also increased by 40% YoY.
Cardano’s DeFi total value locked (TVL) in USD gained 13% quarter on quarter to $231.6 million, while the DeFi diversity score, which represents the number of protocols contributing 90% of the network’s TVL, increased by 13% to 9%. Liqwid witnessed a 141% increase in TVL during the same period, reaching $113.6 million and surpassing Minswap as the top protocol by DeFi TVL on Cardano.
Meanwhile, Minswap’s TVL increased 69% quarter on quarter at $98.9 million. Smaller protocols, such as Splash Protocol and Aada, experienced even more dramatic growth, with TVLs increasing 253% and 105% QoQ to $59.6 million and $30.2 million, respectively.
Stablecoin Growth on Cardano
Cardano’s stablecoin market capitalization climbed by 66% over the previous quarter. At the same time, individual stablecoins iUSD and DJED saw their market capitalization increase by 20% and 41%, respectively.
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