By
Chimamanda U. Martha
April 25th, 2024
The new funding will help Cardano expand its footprint in the rapidly emerging DeFi and NFT market. The funding comes just at a time when Cardano implemented the smart contract functionality through Alonzo hardfork.
The Cardano blockchain ecosystem has been expanding swiftly. Earlier this month, Cardano implemented the Alonzo hardfork bringing smart contract functionality to the platform. This unlocks major opportunities for Cardano to expand in the DeFi ecosystem. During the Cardano 2021 Summit on Sunday, September 26, there were some announcements. Cardano’s commercial and venture arm EMURGO announced a $100 million investment in DeFi. Cardano will use these funds to expand its DeFi ecosystem along with developing other NFT solutions.
Besides, it aims to further blockchain education efforts across Africa, using Cardano. Ken Kodama, the founder of EMURGO responded in a tweet stating:
“We will carry out an investment of 100 million dollars to accelerate the development of the Cardano ecosystem. Please contact us if you would like to receive investment funds, our network, information and management support. We will create a dedicated operation from 2022”.
EMURGO is one of the founding entities for Cardano. It also provides solutions for different developers, enterprises, and governments. The investment arm also announced that it will pour additional funding into a blockchain, AI, and smart technologies firm Adanian Labs.
Cardano’s Bet on DeFi
The decentralized finance (DeFi) market has grown exponentially over the last year and so. DeFi services like decentralized lending and trading have also grown fast with high market demand. Ethereum has been one of the earliest players in DeFi.
Since the Ethereum blockchain already supported smart contracts, it has been the ideal destination for a large number of DeFi projects. However, several Ethereum alternatives are emerging very fast. This includes names like Binance Smart Chain, Avalanche, Solana, and others.
Cardano’s Charles Hoskinson recently said that the blockchain will play a key role in the DeFi 2.0 revolution. The latest funding will help attract more players to the Cardano blockchain platform.
In another major development, the COTI platform said that it would be issuing a new stablecoin Djed on the Cardano blockchain. Djed features an algorithmic design using smart contracts that ensures price stability.
Besides, the Djed stablecoin also has smart contracts programming. This will ensure that it can work effectively even for decentralized finance (DeFi) applications. Cardano co-founder Charles Hoskinson said:
“The Djed stablecoin could be a game-changer in the crypto space, appealing to an entirely new audience at a time when the industry is already experiencing astronomical growth. Djed shares our commitment to formal verification, proving a robust method of combating price volatility of crypto markets. ‘COTI has been a long-time partner of the Cardano ecosystem. It’s great to have them on board with this new venture.”
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