Following its record on-chain activity earlier this month, Cardano now faces a major test as its daily transaction count hovers around 23,000.
Cardano achieved a significant milestone this month, processing over 1.78 million transactions during the previous Epoch 660. The epoch, which began on October 7 and ended on October 11. This exceeded the 1,566,974 (1.56 million) transaction record set in November 2021 by 13.65%.
Additionally, the network recorded a new daily transaction high on October 8, processing over 542,000 transactions. Meanwhile, peak throughput reached 440 TPS during the period.
Daily Activity Raises Sustainability Questions
Despite this record, recent figures suggest that Cardano’s transaction activity has since cooled significantly. According to Chainspect data, the network recorded 23,439 transactions and 12,155 active addresses over the past 24 hours.
However, the five-day epoch total and the latest daily figures cover different periods and should not be compared directly. Notably, Cardano processed at least 249,614 transactions on its least active day during Epoch 660.
Compared with that daily low, the latest figure of 23,439 transactions represents a decline of 90.6%. This sharp drop raises questions about whether Epoch 660 reflected sustained user growth or a temporary surge in network activity.
Other Cardano On-Chain Activity Slumps
Furthermore, other Cardano on-chain metrics, particularly those reflecting capital deployment and application usage, have also weakened.
For instance, Cardano’s total value locked (TVL), which hovered around $70 million during Epoch 660, has since fallen to $57.7 million. This represents a decline of 17.57%.
Similarly, trading volume across Cardano-based decentralized exchanges has dropped by 28.05% over the past week to $6.08 million. Daily DEX volume currently stands at $850,932, further highlighting the slowdown in on-chain activity.
Cardano’s Cumulative Transactions Continue to Grow
Despite the recent decline in daily activity, Cardano continues to accumulate transactions. Cardanoscan data shows that the network has processed approximately 126.71 million transactions since its launch in September 2017.
Meanwhile, the network currently records throughput of 0.27 TPS, while transaction finality takes around two minutes.
Although Cardano’s record-breaking performance during Epoch 660 demonstrated its capacity to handle a substantial transaction surge, the subsequent slowdown suggests that maintaining consistent activity remains a key challenge.
