The price of Cardano (ADA) has reached an all-time high of $2.64 this morning, breaking the previous record of $2.54 set on Friday. ADA now trades for $2.58, up 4.5% from yesterday, according to data from crypto metrics site CoinGecko.
Cardano is the native token of the eponymous blockchain project helmed by Ethereum co-founder Charles Hoskinson. The altcoin overtook stablecoin Tether on August 13 as the third-largest cryptocurrency, with a market cap of $82 billion. ADA’s up 17% over the past week and 116% in the past month.
Cardano’s price surge began in earnest on August 10, when Hoskinson “pre-announced” the date when smart contracts would be integrated on the platform as part of the Alonzo network upgrade later this year. Three days after that “announcement of an announcement,” the development company behind Cardano, Input Output, disclosed the date as September 12.
Last month, Cardano received a big boost when investment firm Grayscale’s Digital Large Cap Fund included the asset in its portfolio. As of this writing, 4.26% of the fund is invested in ADA. 67.47% of the fund is held in Bitcoin and 25.39% in Ethereum.
Other top-10 cryptocurrencies didn’t join Cardano’s celebration today. It’s all a faint hint of red for the market, with Bitcoin and Ethereum down 0.7% and 1.5%, respectively.
Bitcoin inched closer to $50,000 yesterday as it reached as high as $49,700. But that price mark proved to be too hard to topple; the price has since dropped back to $48,800.
Overall, however, the cryptocurrency market has made a strong recovery from the spring crash and summer slump. On Friday, the total market cap of cryptocurrencies once again passed $2 trillion. While the rising figures bring back jubilant memories of the spring, Cardano’s having the best time of its life.
