ADA, the native crypto asset on the Cardano blockchain network, has increased by 8 percent on the day against both Bitcoin and the US dollar, maintaining its momentum throughout the past week.

Within less than two weeks the price of ADA has increased 35 percent. The price increase, since Mar. 14, is said to have been triggered by the launch of the Cardano 1.5 mainnet.

“Cardano 1.5 is important in preparation for moving to the Shelley development phase. This update brings a new consensus protocol, Ouroboros BFT, which is a key step in the transition from Ouroboros Classic, the current consensus protocol running the Cardano network, to Ouroboros Genesis, the protocol for the Shelley era,” the IOHK team said.

Ouroboros Genesis—which is considered to be the ultimate upgrade to the proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus algorithm of Cardano—will improve the security of the Cardano blockchain network significantly, enabling a more secure and efficient environment for developers and decentralized applications (dApps).

Prior to the announcement of the release of the Cardano 1.5 mainnet, several technical analysts and traders in the crypto sector stated that based on technical analysis, considering the performance of ADA in recent months, that the asset is in an ideal position to rebound.

From March to November 2018, the overwhelming majority of assets in the cryptocurrency market including ADA experienced drastic sell-offs. Within 8 months ADA dropped from around $0.35 to $0.027, a decrease of more than 92 percent against USD.

However, beginning February, Cardano gained momentum and showed signs of recovery with strong daily price movements.

The recent price movement of ADA, specifically its 35 percent rally in the past 10 days, is mainly attributed to the progress in the development roadmap of Cardano and its path towards establishing a secure PoS blockchain network.

The transition from Ouroboros Classic to Ouroboros BFT  was especially crucial as it marked the start of a new period in Cardano development called the Shelley, which is considered to be the last phase of development for the foreseeable future.

"We found that the best predictor of a cryptocurrency's exchange rate is the amount of developer activity around it." – @PirateOrg

— Jameson Lopp (@lopp) July 5, 2017

Previously, Ivey Business School professor JP Vergne said, in a research paper studying the impact of various factors on the price trend of cryptocurrencies, that the best predictor of a cryptocurrency’s exchange rate is the developer activity around it. Vergne’s research read:

“Looking across models, we find that technological development is positively and significantly associated with weekly returns. Specifically, we calculate that a one standard deviation (s.d.) increase in technological development corresponds to a 9% increase in returns.”

Amidst a 15-month bear market, and arguably the worst correction in the cryptocurrency market’s recent history, blockchain projects that are continuing to make progress in development in a wide range of areas seem to be appealing to cryptocurrency investors.

In July 2018, Coinbase, a major US-based cryptocurrency exchange, expressed its interest in integrating five crypto assets including Stellar (XLM), Basic Attention Token (BAT), Zcash (ZEC), 0x (ZRX), and Cardano (ADA).

On Mar. 13th, as CryptoSlate reported, Coinbase announced its decision to list Stellar less than four months after the integration of Zcash into Coinbase.com and its mobile apps. Some traders have suggested that the anticipation of a potential listing of Cardano on Coinbase has contributed to the rising price of ADA.

However, it currently remains uncertain whether Coinbase will list ADA in the near future, especially following the integration of Stellar this month.

The post ADA Surges 8% Overnight, Are Crypto Investors Confident in Cardano’s Roadmap? appeared first on CryptoSlate.

387 +