Cardano experiences 33.38% increase in Plutus V1 scripts and 230% increase in Plutus V2 scripts this year

• Cardano’s team implements improvements in costs and script sizes, strengthening its position within the cryptocurrency framework.

• Despite Cardano’s remarkable progress, it still lags behind Ethereum in terms of total smart contract volume.

During this year, Cardano has experienced unprecedented growth in the number of smart contracts on its blockchain, significantly exceeding expectations and figures recorded at the beginning of the year.

This remarkable progress not only underscores Cardano’s growing potential and adaptability, but also reflects a growing interest in the application of blockchain technologies in a diverse spectrum of fields and sectors in today’s cryptoasset market.

According to Cardano Blockchain Insights statistics, the number of Plutus V1 scripts on the Cardano blockchain has increased to 6,293, indicating a 33.38% growth from the initial count of 4,718 at the beginning of the year.

Via: Cardano Blockchain Insights

Similarly, the number of Plutus V2 scripts on the Cardano blockchain was 2,421 in May, but that number has grown 230% to 8,009 as of Dec. 23. This marks the addition of 9,584 smart contracts to the lower figure seen at the start of the year.

Via: Cardano Blockchain Insights

This increase in the number of Cardano smart contracts is in line with the network’s development efforts aimed at improving the functionality of this feature. On December 15, the Cardano development team released the last update of the year on the Cardano ecosystem.

This week’s #Cardano development update is live on #EssentialCardano.

Please note that this is the last development update in 2023 & we look forward to sharing more updates on January 12, 2024!

Here's to a year filled with progress and growth! https://t.co/c9ONxuHUe2

— Input Output (@InputOutputHK) December 15, 2023

According to the report, the dedicated Plutus Core language team successfully implemented common subexpression elimination (CSE) for Untyped Plutus Core. This implementation has achieved cost and size improvements in most scripts.

It is notable to mention that Plutus Core is the programming language that establishes the connection between smart contracts and the final settlement layer of the Cardano blockchain. Smart contracts debuted on the Cardano blockchain with the Alonzo hard fork in September 2021. The Plutus Platform is a building block designed to create these smart contracts.

The smart contracts functionality is intended to transform Cardano into a platform where developers can develop decentralized applications (dApps) and generate non-fungible tokens (NFTs), like those available on the Ethereum blockchain.

Despite the increase in the number of Cardano smart contracts, it still lags far behind Ethereum. To illustrate this, statistics from Dune Analytics suggest that Ethereum saw a significant influx of 1,609,414 million smart contracts in April alone.

Via: Statistics on Dune Analytics

This growth of Cardano is a clear indicator that competition in the blockchain world is increasing. Advances in smart contract technology are essential for the development of decentralized applications and the creation of a more robust and versatile ecosystem. In addition, the increase in the number of smart contracts on Cardano’s blockchain reflects a growing confidence in its platform and the possibilities it offers for the development of new solutions and services.

Cardano’s future looks stable at the transaction and performance level, especially if it continues on this growth and improvement trajectory. Cardano’s blockchain is proving to be a strong contender in the cryptocurrency space, offering viable and efficient alternatives to established platforms such as Ethereum.

This type of innovation and development is essential to the advancement and widespread adoption of blockchain technology. With each improvement and each new smart contract, Cardano moves one step closer to becoming a key system in blockchain technology.