Cardano Q2 2023 Report: DApp Transactions Skyrocket by 49%, TVL Surges to $151.7M

Cardano’s Q2 surge: DApp transactions rise 49%, Minswap dominates DeFi, TVL hits $151.7M, ADA holds YTD gain.

Messari, the leading provider of crypto market intelligence, recently shared deep insights on the State of Cardano as of the year’s second quarter. The report provided insights into the ecosystem, financial trends, and network performance.

State of @Cardano Q2 2023

With a dedicated community of users and developers, Cardano has demonstrated staying power.

In Q2, average daily dapp transactions were up 49%, TVL up 10%, and 199% YTD.@redvelvetzip dives in. https://t.co/MNhyNJvIPq

— Messari (@MessariCrypto) August 4, 2023

DApp Activities Surge 49% QoQ

In terms of the ecosystem, Cardano has witnessed a remarkable surge in decentralized app (DApp) activities for the third consecutive quarter. The average daily DApp transactions experienced an impressive 49.0% quarter-over-quarter (QoQ) increase in Q2, reaching an average of 57,900 daily transactions.

A standout performer in the Cardano DApp landscape was automated market maker Minswap. The app garnered significant attention by recording one million transactions in May and June.

This marked a staggering 167.5% QoQ increase, allowing Minswap to outpace the NFT marketplace jpg.store regarding DApp transactions. Messari noted that this shift aligned with increasing DeFi activity and declining NFT activity.

Furthermore, Messari reported that Minswap solidified its position as the dominant force in Cardano’s DeFi realm, boasting a Total Value Locked (TVL) of $48.8 million. This figure implies a 32.2% dominance by the end of Q2. 

TVL Hits $151.7 Million

Remarkably, Messari noted that despite ADA’s price decline, Cardano’s TVL surged by 9.7% QoQ to reach $151.7 million. This growth in TVL propelled Cardano’s ranking from thirty-fourth to twenty-one among all networks in terms of TVL in 2023.

Notably, stablecoins played a pivotal role in driving Cardano’s TVL surge, with the total stablecoin market share expanding by 34.9% from $10 million to over $13 million.

Additionally, this growth enabled Cardano to climb from the fifty-fourth position to the thirty-seventh position in terms of stablecoin market share among all networks in 2023. The importance of stablecoins was underscored as they facilitated liquidity pool pairing, lending and borrowing, leverage creation, and rapid escapes from market volatility.

Cardano Financial Overview

Moving on to the financial landscape, Cardano’s native asset, ADA, experienced a pullback in both price and market share after its 53.5% Q1 surge. ADA’s Q2 performance lagged behind the broader crypto market, which saw a modest 0.1% QoQ increase.

During Q2, Cardano’s Treasury account rose 8.5% to 1.30 billion ADA. Despite this growth, the Treasury’s dollar value experienced a 20.7% QoQ decrease due to ADA’s price depreciation.

Regarding network performance, the average transaction fee grew by 8.5% QoQ to $0.126 from $0.117. However, this increase did not negate the significant 50.8% year-over-year (YoY) decrease in the average transaction fee, primarily attributed to lower ADA prices than the previous year.