The price of cryptocurrency Cardano has risen above $3 for the first time after developers began implementing upgrades that will allow “smart contracts” to be built on its network.
Cardano rose nearly 8% in pre-market trading to $3.04 on news of the upgrade and had been as high as $3.09 per digital token. Cardano’s price has enjoyed a spectacular run in recent weeks as investors have become excited about the major network upgrade codenamed “Alonzo.”
Cardano’s latest price increase comes after developer IOHK said that the Alonzo upgrade had been launched on a test network. The full launch is expected later in September.
The Alonzo upgrade will allow smart contracts to be built on the Cardano ada network, potentially making the Cardano blockchain more attractive to users. A smart contract is a piece of code that allows people to enter financial agreements without the need for a centralized party.
The move could make Cardano more of a rival to Ethereum, which already offers smart contracts and has drawn increasing institutional investor interest for its range of potential uses in financial services.
Cardano is now the third largest cryptocurrency after Bitcoin and Ethereum in terms of market capitalization. Cardano’s price is up more than 130% over the last 30 days and is more than 2,300% higher over the past year.
