Cardano (ADA) advances with Plomin hard fork activation

Cardano (ADA), a popular proof-of-stake (PoS) blockchain, is at a crossroads in the process of developing a decentralized governance system. Input Output Global (IOG), the main firm behind Cardano, confirmed that it will be supporting the Plomin hard fork on the mainnet as of January 18, 2025.

According to a tweet, “We’re happy to share that Input | Output has today voted “Yes” on the Plomin Hard Fork governance action.”

This means that all the conditions which are stated in the Interim Constitution have been fulfilled to the letter. IOG representatives emphasized that there was internal and independent technical assessment before this milestone. 

Moreover, more than 85% of the active stake pools have been updated to the required client node versions of 10.1.3 or 10.1.4 to meet the consensus rules of the guardrail HARDFORK-04.

The Intersect’s Hard Fork Working Group has also submitted readiness reports that only serves as a testament of the readiness of the network to this upgrade. The Plomin activation is a constitutional milestone for Cardano according to its decentralized governance plan.

Is a 400% rally on the cards for ADA?

With the bearish pressure in the cryptocurrency market being less severe, large-cap altcoins are displaying early indications of a comeback. Cardano has quickly become one of the best-performing assets in the cryptocurrency market by the year 2025.

After weeks of downward movement, ADA has managed to regain and trade above the $1 level. Crypto analysts are now speculating about the next move for the price of Cardano.

Prominent analyst Ali Martinez recently highlighted fractals—which are patterns in the price, to indicate that Cardano is about to experience a significant price action. Martinez likened the current trend to the late 2020 rise of ADA, which jumped from $0.4 to above $3, this being its peak.

 In his analysis, he argued that Cardano could follow a similar trend, and it might hit $6 within two to three weeks. This would mean a 400% increase from the price at which it currently trades. At the time of writing this, ADA is selling at $1.15, which is about 5% higher than its value on the previous day and 20% higher than a week ago.

Surging ADA TVL

Aside from price recovery, Cardano’s DeFi ecosystem is also growing. The total value locked (TVL) in Cardano protocols has risen by 25% in the year so far, increasing from $430 million to $538 million. 

The institutional and large-scale investors have greatly contributed to the appreciation of the price of Cardano. According to blockchain analytics firm Santiment, whale transactions worth more than $100k have picked up as Ada’s price has risen. This increased activity is attributed to the increased confidence of institutional investors, increased trading and supporting the bullish outlook.

Cardano’s connection to the new US administration is another factor that makes it attractive to the market. The company’s founder, Charles Hoskinson, is said to be among the potential members of President-elect Donald Trump’s crypto council which will advise the new administration on digital currency laws.

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