Cardano needs to onboard projects quickly to reap the benefits of ‘network effects’.

Last September Cardano’s Alonzo update went live on the mainnet.

It brought Smart Contracts on the network.

Smart contracts are chunks of codes that self-execute when predefined conditions are satisfied. As a result, they form the bedrock of DeFi facilitating a trustless system for the exchange of money.

Since then, it was expected that Cardano will challenge Ethereum’s hegemony in Decentralized Finance (DeFi).

It was revealed by Tim Harrison, the Marketing and Communications Director at Input Output Global, that the Cardano ecosystem continues to grow, with currently 517 projects being built as of March 12.

Source: LinkedIn

Of these projects, NFT collections constitute a mammoth 34% of the share, followed by Decentralized Exchanges at 6.2%, Wallets at 4.7% as the top 3 categories.

“It has been a remarkable journey to get to here. And kudos to the innovative, passionate community of builders that has brought this project so far. We’re really just getting started, you know.”

Tim Harrison, Marketing and Communications Director at Input Output Global

This performance is up to the mark but the Total Value Locked in the Cardano network is nowhere close to its competitors. According to Defi Llama, Cardano ranks 28th with a TVL worth $175 million.

Cardano will need to onboard more projects quickly in order to reap the benefits of ‘network effects’. Otherwise, it will remain behind its competitors.