According to U.Today, Cardano (ADA), one of the largest proof-of-stake (PoS) cryptocurrencies, has achieved a remarkably low inflation rate of 2.5% over the past year. This rate is significantly lower compared to other major cryptocurrencies such as Avalanche (AVAX) at 15%, Solana (SOL) at 14%, Cosmos (ATOM) at 13%, and Polkadot (DOT) at 10%. Even Ethereum (ETH), a major competitor, has an inflation rate twice that of Cardano. Bitcoin (BTC), known for its scarcity, has an inflation rate of 0.86% following its 2024 halving.
The low inflation rate of Cardano is seen as a fundamental strength, contributing to its stable adoption and economic sustainability. The Cardano community believes that if the inflation rate were to rise to the levels of its competitors, it would lead to significant backlash and a shift towards scarcer assets like Bitcoin. This combination of low inflation and significant adoption positions Cardano as a favourable asset in 2024. In addition to its low inflation, Cardano recently celebrated a major milestone of 2,500 days without network outages, highlighting its reliability. However, despite these achievements, Cardano faces criticism for its low levels of network activity and the slow progress of its decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem. According to DefiLlama data, Cardano's total value locked (TVL) in DeFi protocols peaked at over $468 million on March 14, 2024. Following a drop in the cryptocurrency's price, the TVL in Cardano's DeFi ecosystem fell to $170 million but has since shown signs of recovery. Three DeFi protocols, Minswap, Indigo, and Liqwid, account for over 50% of this TVL in USD-denominated terms. Despite the challenges, the Cardano community remains optimistic about the future, citing the network's economic sustainability and reliability as key factors for its continued growth and adoption.