A view has emerged that Cardano (ADA)'s core task is to secure network usage commensurate with its market capitalisation, rather than its technology.

The Crypto Basic, a blockchain media outlet, reported on Oct. 7 that crypto researcher John Nakamoto (존 나카모토) analysed a large gap between Cardano's market value and real economic activity. He argued that rather than judging ADA a "dead asset" based only on price declines, it is necessary to examine whether technology and capital are translating into real demand.

Nakamoto reviewed performance since 2021, when Cardano rose to become the third-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalisation. On Sept. 3, 2021, ADA was priced at about $2.97 and had a market capitalisation of about $95 billion. It later rose above $3 at one point but entered a long-term downtrend and has fallen more than 92 percent from its peak. He said judging a project's viability by price alone could miss the essence.

He cited low network usage as the biggest problem. Cardano's market capitalisation is about $10.2 billion, but decentralised finance total value locked is only about $71 million. Nakamoto said investors expect growth in users, liquidity, applications and transaction activity, and he stressed that technical improvements need to lead to real ecosystem expansion.

He cited the stablecoin USDCx as a means to expand liquidity. USDCx, which is pegged 1-to-1 with USDC, enables use of dollar-based liquidity on Cardano. He said it could help spur inflows of funds within the ecosystem without greatly increasing reliance on external bridges.

He also assessed network upgrades and governance changes positively. He attached significance to the Van Rosum hard fork because the community led proposals, discussions and approvals within the governance framework.

He also highlighted the scalability project Leios. Its component, Input Endorsers, aims to increase network throughput by 10 to 65 times, but it is still in development.

How to use the treasury, estimated at about 1.4 billion ADA, is also a key task. Nakamoto pointed out that a large treasury does not automatically raise network value. He said spending should lead to new users and liquidity inflows, more active DeFi trading, higher fee revenue and application expansion.

On real-world asset tokenisation, he pointed to CIP-113. The proposal is designed to allow tokens to reflect rules such as know-your-customer checks, approved user lists, transfer and regional restrictions, and freezes. It does not, however, guarantee regulatory compliance by itself. It is closer to a tool for implementing, as transfer rules, regulatory requirements needed for stablecoins or tokenised securities.

Support from major trading platforms is continuing. ADA was included alongside bitcoin, ether, solana and XRP in the initial list of perpetual futures that Robinhood provides to eligible U.S. customers. ADA contracts offer up to 3 times leverage with no expiry. Nakamoto said this was difficult to see as evidence of Cardano's DeFi competitiveness, but interpreted it as a sign that market interest and liquidity in ADA are being maintained.

Nakamoto stressed that rather than defining Cardano as a "dead project", it should be assessed on how effectively it uses what it has. He said given its technology, treasury, governance and infrastructure, the next task is to link them to real usage. He said market value and network activity could narrow their gap only if users and funds flow in and DeFi and real-world projects grow.

$ADA LLEGÓ A SER LA 3ª CRIPTOMONEDA MÁS GRANDE En 2021 @Cardano superó los $3 Desde entonces ha caído más de un 92% Muchos dicen que está MUERTO He revisado todos los DATOS y esto es una LOCURA https://t.co/PHYc6W0iMT