Euphoria From Vasil Hard Fork Could Be Wearing Off On Cardano’s Price

Cardano aligns with the general sentiment within the crypto market, recording a slight recovery between 12 and 14 August. This was before pulling back on today’s intra-day trading session. ADA may benefit if Bitcoin and other leading cryptocurrencies correct the bearish momentum.

Vasil is an upgrade targeted at increasing the scalability of the Cardano blockchain. Developers want it to help transmit transaction data at a cheaper cost. Vasil was successfully launched on Cardano’s testnet in early July. Even so, the project developers have identified more technical bugs. The discovery has forced them to adjust the launch date to the mainnet, contrary to the scheduled August deployment.

In the face of the expected update, ADA price has displayed significant volatility, plummeting more than 6% over the past 24 hours, trading at $0.552 on CoinGecko. The cryptocurrency is up 6.6% over the past 14 days and 24.9% over the last 30 days.

The Vasil hard fork is the biggest upgrade to Cardano since September 2021’s Alonzo hard fork. The expected fork presents itself as a “game changer” in the Cardano development. It is positioned to improve the network in speed and scalability. With this upgrade, Cardano will become a better ground for smart contracts and decentralized applications (Dapps).

The Vasil Hard Fork

The Vasil hard fork was originally set for launch in June. However, the Cardano blockchain development teams have given priority to a smooth network transition. Following the failure to launch in June, the Cardano Vasil hard fork was delayed again in July, with the Cardano blockchain development team targeting a seamless network upgrade.

The organization in charge of Cardano’s research and development, Input Output Global (IOG), posted a YouTube update last month about the scheduled Vasil hard fork. Per the IOG technical manager, Kevin Hammond, the Vasil hard fork would be postponed to ascertain that every stakeholder, including exchanges and API developers, is “ready for that.”

According to a blog post titled “Cardano’s approaching Vasil upgrade: what to expect,” IOHK explained all the features and improvements that will come with the hard fork.

The upgrade will significantly enhance Cardano’s performance and capability in line with the improvements on the network.

Citing the IOT official, “Obviously, from where we are, there could be a few more weeks before we go to the actual Vasil hard fork. This is incredibly important. All the users must be ready to progress through the hard fork to ensure a smooth process.”

The hard fork paves the way for the Cardano sidechain interoperability. Interoperability is among the most crucial elements the platform developers are looking to roll out in the current Basho era as a short-term workaround. They intend to actively develop the block size to ensure the network’s operability.

Hard Fork Delays And Postponement

The big delay follows the expected big event in the cryptocurrency market, Ethereum’s Merge. Ethereum, the second-largest blockchain in value, is planning a big event called the Merge. Ethereum’s Merge event will see the network transition from Proof-of-Work to Proof-of-Stake mechanism on September 15.

According to Cardano developer Input Output, three indicators will determine when that mainnet launch of the hard fork will happen. According to the developer, 75% of mainnet blocks must first be created by the final Vasil node candidate. After that, approximately 25 exchanges that make most of the available liquidity must be brought into the fold before the upgrade happens.

The last stage involves the leading Cardano-based decentralized applications (Dapps) being upgraded to node version 1.35.3. Minswap, before the mainnet upgrade, will be triggered.

For the week ending August 14, the total cryptocurrency market cap is on target for a sixth consecutive weekly rise. The upswing may support a second successive monthly rise. Cardano is among the coins to watch this week.

ADA Technical analysis

Cardano price analysis shows a sideways trend sign today following the previous session’s gains. Currently, the bulls are facing a challenge at $0.572 (white). A successful breach of the critical resistance level would pave the way for another leg-up in the token. Bulls continue to target the inverted head and shoulder pattern towards $0.60 (blue).

ADA/USD Daily Price Chart

Tracking the broader market, the price of ADA fell to an August 10 low of $0.497 before striking a Sunday high of $0.5859 on August 14. While identifying support from the latest US economic indications, network news updates were also in favor of ADA. News of progress towards the delayed Vasil hard fork provided ADA support.

Looking at the chart’s trends (above), returning to the $0.60 level would give the bulls a run at the June high when ADA price hit $0.6688. From this level, ADA would have a free run at the May high of $0.9047, targeting $1.00.

In the same way, falling back to sub-$0.50 would give the bears a look at the June low of $0.4026 and the $0.3919 intra-year low of $2022.

The technical indicators and the daily candlestick chart (below) showed a bullish signal. ADA sits above the 50-day MA, currently trading at $0.552. The 50-day withdrew from the 100-day EMA, with the 100-day EMA moving away from the 200-day EMA, both bullish ADA price signals.

Technical Indicators

Pulling back from a fall through the 50-day EMA would continue to support the upward trend formed after testing support at the 50-day EMA on August 12. Nonetheless, a fall through the 50-day EMA could bring the 100-day EMA, currently at $0.5222, into effect.

Cardano (ADA) Flips XRP As The 6^th Largest Crypto.

Cardano’s native token ADA overtook XRP on Sunday, August 14, securing its spot as the 6^th largest cryptocurrency globally in market capitalization. ADA now records $88 million more than XRP’s market cap on CoinMarketCap. This comes as ADA’s trading volume went up by more than 70% over the weekend.

Breaking the $0.5472 key resistance level, ADA outperformed XRP, trading at $0.371 at press time. According to reports, ADA appears to be very well on its way to $1, executing 75,000 transactions per day.

According to Forbes, the Cardano blockchain platform wants to become the ‘internet of blockchains.’ The ADA killer is still several million away from taking the fifth slot on the list of largest cryptos. However, the potential of this project should not be undermined.