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The Cardano (ADA) blockchain has been in the minds of many crypto investors recently. This is thanks to the successful launch of its Alonzo blockchain.

Now that Alonzo is live and ready to roll, Cardano’s developers – Input Output Hong Kong (IOHK) and the Cardano Foundation have been making significant moves to boost its profile. These efforts are starting to yield fruit, much to the benefit of ADA investors.

A Background to the Alonzo Upgrade

Alonzo is central to Cardano’s objective of becoming the top blockchain platform. The hard fork was implemented weeks ago. It essentially introduces smart contracts to Cardano and makes it more functional for building decentralized applications (dApps). Thanks to Alonzo, builders in the decentralized finance (DeFi), non-fungible (NFT), and blockchain development space can also use Cardano.

The platform implemented Alonzo in early September. Since then, Cardano has immediately gone on a campaign to increase its awareness. The Foundation has touted its blockchain’s effectiveness and encouraged people to build on it. As the early results show, the strategy appears to be yielding some fruit.

Data showed that over 200 smart contracts were built and pushed to Cardano as of last weekend. This already indicates considerable demand among customers and developers looking to capitalize on the platform’s relative newness.

A Spate of Agreements and Partnerships

So far, the Cardano Foundation’s marketing and promotions campaign has been at full force. At the Foundation’s 2021 Cardano Summit, it has announced several vital partnerships towards ensuring that the blockchain looks more appealing.

One of the most effective campaigns is the partnership between Cardano and Chainlink – the top decentralized oracle. Chainlink’s job is to provide off-chain data to blockchain platforms in real-time, offering all the information they need to support different projects and applications.

Chainlink is the leading data oracle. Its incorporation will only solidify Cardano even more as a contender for the attention of DeFi developers.

The Cardano Foundation has also announced a partnership with DISH Network – one of the topmost wireless and network service providers. DISH is a Fortune 250 company, so it’s got the customers. It is looking to incorporate Cardano into its services and bolster security. Specifically, Cardano will offer digital identity services to DISH’s customers.

While this partnership isn’t primarily related to DeFi, it will still improve Cardano’s standing significantly. It shows, among other things, that the blockchain is also capable of supporting enterprise clients and big companies.

ADA and Djed

Last among the notable announcements is the launch of Djed – a stablecoin that will focus on DeFi transactions and payments. The stablecoin will be used to reduce gas fees on Cardano. As many know, this is one of the problems that are currently facing the Ethereum blockchain. Djed will be an essential part of Cardano’s scalability initiative by making transactions cheaper and more predictable.

The Foundation will also spend $100 million encouraging projects in DeFi, NFT, and developer education. The funds will be useful for education programs while supporting DeFi and NFT projects via seed funding. All in all, the Cardano Foundation is committing a fortune to expand and grow its developer base.

Analysis: How DeFi Focus Benefits ADA

To be fair, it is worth noting that all of these don’t mean that Cardano will usurp Ethereum. There is still a lot that could affect the outcome of this supremacy battle, even though Cardano is looking to be in a solid position.

Currently, ADA is trading at $2.09 – down 4.65 percent in the past day and 1.24 percent in the past week. The coin is trading below its short-term moving average (MA) indicators, ranging from the 10-day MA of $2.18 to the 50-day MA of $2.44.

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Source: TradingView

However, it is trading above its 100-day and 200-day MAs, showing that it remains highly valuable for long-term investors.

(Click on image to enlarge)

Source: TradingView