Cardano on a decline, ADA bulls struggling to keep its price above $2.30 – Cardano Weekly

Cardano's native token ADA is currently seeing one of the worst runs of the second half of the year. The crypto, which has barely posted any eventful performances in October, has continued losing ground in the market. ADA benefitted from last week's broader market surge, hitting a 7-day high of $2.30. It has since struggled to slice above $2.24 after a correction that saw it drop below $2.15 on the same day it posted the week high.

Cardano Foundation head dismisses the notion that smart contracts late launch has affected the network

The Cardano network has caught headlines recently, with the Alonzo upgrade specifically being a much-debated topic. At the end of last month, the digital assets investment firm Grayscale released a report titled ‘An Introduction to Cardano'. The report's authors penned that Cardano's need to get developments right in the first attempt held the network.

The Alonzo upgrade that featured smart contract functionality came into effect in September after four years of development. Last week, Cardano Foundation chief executive Frederik Gregaard defended the firm's decision to make a late entry into the smart contracts bandwagon. In an interview with the Crypto Deep Dive Series' Henri Arslanian, Gregaard rebuffed claims that Cardano is beleaguered.

The executive noted that the slow and steady approach was the right way to manage developments in the blockchain space. He further added that the late entry worked in favor of the project rather than impeding its growth. In his opinion, the approach guaranteed a solid foundation which in turn gives the project vitality. Gregaard asserted that other important factors like longevity mattered more than the speed of release in blockchain development.

“For me, what is most important is reliability and resilience of the technology, right? But also the ability to use that over generations.”

Cardano's co-founder Charles Hoskinson has previously reiterated that the development team behind Cardano preferred a ‘responsible' approach albeit time-consuming. At the time he referenced Ethereum, noting, “I just happen to believe the way we do things is a bit more mature and responsible because the way that we do things results in a better assurance that the systems we build won't fail.”

IOHK partners with Bondly on a cross-chain bridge project

IOHK, the firm behind the Cardano network, last week on Thursday revealed a collaboration that will allow non-fungible token (NFT) creators to switch from Ethereum to Cardano seamlessly. The firm has partnered with the NFT solution provider and decentralized e-commerce platform Bondly Finance on the project that is set to be ready early next year.

Bondly Finance noted in the announcement that the Cardano-Ethereum bridge would help NFT creators leverage on better deals. It will also offer more sustainable options to the creators – a solution to the high energy consumption problem present on Ethereum. The latter is expected to switch entirely to the Proof of Stake mechanism, but the changeover will arrive next year at the earliest.

“We built Cardano with energy efficiency in mind, which is why this partnership with Bondly is so crucial, as it will allow NFT creators access to a leading solution for token creation which doesn't compromise on environmental credentials,” Cardano co-founder Hoskinson noted.

Through the new functionality powered by Bondly, creators will be able to move NFT creations minted on Ethereum to Cardano. The bridge will do away with energy inefficiencies and high transaction fees incurred on Ethereum's current Proof of Work mechanisms.  There are concerns that the roll-out of the bridge could potentially fuel the rivalry between the two blockchains.

The NFT solution provider also pledged to create an eco-friendly NFT collection to celebrate the introduction of smart contract functionality on Cardano. Bondly CEO Harry Liu on his part, hailed the project as a “pivotal moment”, adding that it would “herald the next phase of NFT evolution.”

Cardano Market Performance

Cardano's token is at present having a hard time building momentum. ADA has been trading in the red over the past six days and is, as of writing, changing hands at$1.95, having shed 9.44% in the last 24 hours. The latter is the result of the steep dip that ADA/USD posted earlier, making the altcoin one of the biggest losers today.

ADA's weekly trading chart

A worrying factor for ADA holders is the continually shrinking ADA to Bitcoin correlation. Holders will need to watch out for the correlation as further dips could mean any of Bitcoin's future positive price movements won't influence the token. Despite trading sideways at the moment and having a short-term bearish signal, the outlook is not bleak.

Cardano can still survive this challenging phase if bulls manage to push its price back to the initial levels of $2.15 before it plunged. This projection is backed by low selling volume, which could imply that the token may be potentially on the path to $2.40.