Cardano DeFi growth accelerates…TVL up about 23% in two weeks

Assets locked in the Cardano (Cardano, ADA)-based decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem have posted a sharp increase over the past roughly two weeks.

According to NewsBTC on the 11th (local time), total value locked (TVL) in Cardano network DeFi rose from about 447 million ADA on Feb. 26 to about 552 million ADA on March 10—an increase of roughly 23% over about 12 days.

In dollar terms, the gain is somewhat smaller. According to data analytics platform DeFiLlama, Cardano TVL over the same period increased from about $127 million to about $142 million, a rise of around 12%.

The gap between the token-denominated increase and the dollar-denominated increase is attributed to fluctuations in the ADA price. During the period, an estimated roughly 105 million ADA flowed into Cardano-based DeFi protocols.

In the Cardano ecosystem, the recent introduction of stablecoins is cited as one factor behind DeFi growth. In particular, Circle’s U.S. dollar stablecoin USDC-based privacy-focused token ‘USDCx’ was introduced to the Cardano ecosystem earlier this year, boosting expectations for an expansion of financial infrastructure.

Cardano network stablecoin market capitalization is currently estimated at about $48 million. The community interprets this as a sign that confidence in the network’s financial infrastructure is gradually expanding.

Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson has also outlined plans to build cross-chain bridges with major networks such as Bitcoin (BTC) and XRP.

Still, Cardano DeFi remains small compared with major blockchains. Ethereum’s DeFi deposits total tens of billions of dollars, and Solana also maintains a much larger TVL than Cardano.

Market participants see the expansion of cross-chain connectivity and whether additional capital inflows materialize as key variables that will determine whether Cardano’s DeFi growth can be sustained.