The price of the native token of the Cardano ecosystem, ADA, is up by more than 10.6% in the last 24-hour period, outperforming the wider cryptocurrency market over the same period, in which BTC and ETH rose 2.1% and 5.3% respectively.

The cryptocurrency’s price has been rising shortly after the network’s Daedalus v7.0.0. upgrade of full-node desktop wallet software was released, making it easier for users to delegate their voting power to delegated representatives on the cryptocurrency’s ecosystem, while also allowing users to choose automatic voting options to have a voice in Cardano’s governance.

⭐ OUT NOW: Daedalus 7.0.0 for mainnet, preprod & preview.Daedalus 7.0.0 enables users to delegate their voting power to delegated representatives (DReps) or choose an automatic voting option (abstain or no confidence), ensuring that the Daedalus community has a voice in the… pic.twitter.com/T1Lac4lblW

— Input Output (@InputOutputHK) December 11, 2024

On top of these new features, the upgrade brings in a new voting tab allowing users to select their registration preferences for each wallet held in Daedalus, and is a new step ahead of the Cardano Constitution referendum scheduled for early next year.

On top of these developments, rumors have been circulating suggesting that the Cardano & XRP ecosystems may soon form a major partnership, with Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson having revealed he has engaged in discussions with Ripple’s CEO Brad Garlinghouse. 

I just spoke with @bgarlinghouse. He's a great CEO and extremely collaborative, and I'm excited to see how the future unfolds.

— Charles Hoskinson (@IOHK_Charles) November 12, 2024

It’s currently unclear what such a collaboration can entail, although rumors suggest Cardano’s privacy-focused side chain Midnight could be involved, as could an integration of XRP with Cardano’s smart contract platform.

These talks are occurring at a time in which the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) gave Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin the green light to advance, and according to Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse, “exchange and partner listings will be live soon.”

As CryptoGlobe reported last week, cryptocurrency investment products offering exposure to XRP saw inflows of $134.3 million, nearly half of the $275 million inflow these products have seen year-to-date, according to CoinShares’ Digital Asset Fund Flows report.

These inflows came during a week in which cryptocurrency investment products saw their highest inflows ever, with investors pouring $3.85 billion into these funds amid the cryptocurrency market rally.

Featured image via Unsplash.