116
Cardano didn't cause cryptocurrency's July 20 market crash -- but it's sure acting like it can fix it.
ADA bullied BINANCE Coin out to become the third most valuable cryptocurrency by market cap on August 20. The newest member of the Top-3 outstripped its two larger companions in its recovery from the July 20 slump -- ADA more than doubled from its price then, as opposed to Ethereum's and Bitcoin's 1.8x and 1.6x returns.
ADA also surpassed its previous all-time-high and has traded above it for several days now.
ADA's price surge appears driven by the blockchain's imminent "Alonzo" upgrade, which should enable smart contracts. There are at least three other near-term dates besides the Alonzo upgrade however that could stir the pot.
ADA's next 30ish days
Below are a couple of dates I think have a higher-than-average chance of pushing ADA into high gear. I don't feel I understand each one enough to offer anything other than a brief summary, and this is by no means a comprehensive list of ADA's upcoming events. But I haven't seen any "upcoming event" summaries for ADA in the context of its most recent price all-time-high, and I want to provide this list to the community for general awareness. I'd love to hear people's opinion on these and on any other upcoming events to watch -- I'll read and research any suggested additions in the comments closely.
- Wednesday, August 25: ADA listing on Bitpoint. Bitpoint will be ADA's first formal exposure to the Japanese financial market. I'm curious if this will cause a temporary spike as ADA enthusiasts like myself tweak their positions for no real reason, or if the market will appreciably move because more potential users equal more potential money. Coin price reaction to new exchange listings is definitely on my analysis task list -- hopefully I'll put out a blog post soon on my findings. (just Google it)
- Sunday, September 12: Alonzo main net hard fork. I feel much more confident in speculating that ADA's price will fluctuate wildly on or near September 12 because the confirmation about the hard fork essentially caused a new all-time-high. "Fluctuate wildly" doesn't mean "profit wildly" however -- if worst comes to worst and the Alonzo hard fork causes unanticipated issues, the price could drop just as quickly. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnV4eWw37Ts)
- Saturday, September 25: Cardano 2021 Summit. This is a bit of a wildcard for me. Summits are a dime-a-dozen. Cardano 2021 however will come on the heels of the Alonzo hard fork, and I feel its not a stretch to imagine a secondary hype wave caused by the summit -- especially if the Cardano Powers-that-Be have any additional, as-yet-unknown announcements to make. (https://summit.cardano.org/)
- Wildcard starting September 1: Cardano, Ethiopia, and Atala PRISM. Cardano hopes to leverage its blockchain technology to transform how educators and students track academic progress. The project is supposed to go live sometime in Q3 2021. There's a lot of slick promotional hype online that's difficult to cut through, and there's definitely an argument to be made that projects like this are more hype/vaporware than reality. Confidence in whether or not Atala PRISM development becomes real enough to influence ADA's price is likely a function of an individual's belief in ADA's underlying principles. I'm a sucker for transformational tech applications like this, so I'll definitely be on the watch for announcements -- and price reactions -- as Q3 starts and advances. (https://africa.cardano.org/)
Plot data from Coindesk.com and COINBASE Pro API. Cover photo by Alison Wang on Unsplash.
