The ADA cryptocurrency, native to the Cardano blockchain network, soared over 12 per cent on Wednesday, statistics from CoinMarketCap indicated.
The cryptocurrency was trading at $0.5812 in the early hours of Wednesday morning and surged to $0.6517 at approximately 7:45 AM IST, according to data from CoinMarketCap.
The ADA token also surpassed Ripple blockchain network's XRP and Solana blockchain network's SOL to become the sixth most valued cryptocurrency.
The 24-hour trading volume of the cryptocurrency also went up 19.96 per cent and was at $1,619,512,184.
Why did Cardano spike today?
One of the primary factors that have pushed the price of the ADA token of the Cardano network is the upcoming Vasil hard fork. The Vasil hard fork will improve the Cardano blockchain's scalability. The hard fork is set to take place in June.
A hard fork is a significant change to the network protocol that validates previously invalid blocks and transactions, or vice versa.
A hard fork occurs when nodes of the most recent version of a blockchain stop accepting older versions, resulting in a permanent separation from the prior network version.
Furthermore, another factor that has contributed to this boom is the fact that the Cardano network has become home to over 1,000 projects, indicating higher trust in the network. Around 1,000 projects on a network is a good benchmark highlighting the trust in the network.
Moreover, data indicate that the number of native assets on the network has expanded substantially, which is another factor contributing to Cardano's rising value. Over five million non-fungible tokens have now been minted on the Cardano blockchain network, suggesting increased community interest.