Cardano NFTs are growing from strength to strength – enough to topple Ethereum and Solana?
- After a slow start to the year, Cardano NFTs have taken off.
- Despite various milestones, collections under the blockchain have not matched their Ethereum counterparts.
Over the past few years, the Non-Fungible Token (NFT) market has grown into a multi-billion dollar industry. However, it seems that the sector has not reached its peak, which SkyQuest Technology predicted that the market value may exceed 122 billion dollars by 2028.
Realistic or not, here it is ADA’s market value in ETH terms
Two undeniable contributors to the current market level are Ethereum [ETH] blockchain and Solana [SOL]. However, these are not the only ones that have had significant input into the ecosystem.
Cardano [ADA] NFTs have also had a huge impact on the sector. DappRadar reported in October 2022 that the Cardano NFTs had become third largest protocol in the ecosystem.
At that time, Cardano had just completed its long-awaited Vasil upgrade. The upgrade, which was intended to increase block delay speed and efficiency on the blockchain, led to an increase in Unique Active Wallets (UAW) on the blockchain. The report noted,
“The Cardano marketplace JPG Store saw a 13.66% growth in the number of unique active wallets in the last 30 days. In addition, the NFT market saw a 40% increase in trading volume, reaching $11.2 million.”
This metric shows the number of distinct addresses interacting with decentralized applications (dApps) under a protocol. In turn, this saw NFT volume cross $19 million within 30 days of the period.
Source: DappRadar
Cardano NFTs: The journey to relevance
Cardano, known for its scalability and sustainability, entered the NFT space with CardanoKidz as the first collection. Although this collection started in a novice way, as there was no real utility, it was still able to sell out using ADA’s native token standard.
Although several projects followed, Cardano has still not been able to turn Ethereum and Solana, the two prominent platforms in the NFT market.
Ethereum has long been the dominant player in the NFT space. However, network congestion and high gas fees have prompted some users to explore alternative platforms. Solana, for its part, has gained attention for its fast and affordable transactions.
However, Cardano’s foray into NFTs brings its own unique advantages, such as its focus on sustainability and the promise of interoperability. But it doesn’t just end there, because here are three other unique features of Cardano NFTs:
- Cardano NFTs can be created without the need for smart contracts.
- Since the blockchain is divided into settlement and calculation layers, the fees can be very minimal.
- Cardano NFTs allow a bunch of asset transfers with multiple destinations, but only one transaction fee.
Today’s value is not yesterday’s value
However, it remains to be seen if these features can help Cardano NFTs outperform Ethereum and Solana and reshape the NFT landscape. But their entry certainly brings more diversity and competition to the market.
Coincidentally, there appears to have been a change in Cardano’s performance in the space. According to Santiment, the last quarter (Q4) of 2022 was not really an impressive season for the NFTs. And this lasted until the middle of March in the new year.
But since that period, the interest in Cardano NFTs has been huge. Based on data on the chain, NFT trading volume reached a year-to-date (YTD) high of $16.98 million on March 18. After another period of ups and downs, it was able to record a monthly high of 8.68 million on May 2, despite only being in its first week.
Source: Sentiment
This means that many traders now considered Cardano NFTs as having potential, although many unique addresses seemed to have dropped out.
Shares, development and prospects for the future
Meanwhile, Cardano’s development arm Input Output wasn’t taking any chances to lose NFT market share. On April 14, the group announced the launch of Lace.io, the first native wallet.
Lace, the new wallet platform from IOG, aims to redefine #Web3 experience and make it available to everyone.
Explore @lace_ioits prelaunch achievements, its core goals, features and journey now that it is LIVE on the mainnet.#LacePlatform #Cardano
— Input Output (@InputOutputHK) 14 April 2023
And according to the blog post, the Lace wallet will allow users to send and receive Cardano digital assets. Thus helping to increase Cardano’s presence in the NFT scene.
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Although Cardano has been pushing for increased adoption, it has yet to match Ethereum’s hype. But many other collections have emerged, including EarthNode, Mocossi Planet, and Clay Nation, among others. The JPG Store has also been its largest marketplace, accounting for over 99% of market share the last 24 hours.
Source: OpenCNFT
In conclusion, the emergence of Cardano NFTs presents an exciting prospect for the future of the digital collectibles market. Furthermore, its potential to challenge the dominance of Ethereum and Solana has positioned it as a promising option for NFT creators and collectors.
However, the success of Cardano NFTs in overturning Ethereum and Solana ultimately depends on various factors, including network adoption, developer support, and user needs.
