$30B ADA now staked as Alonzo smart contract excitement builds

More than $30 billion worth of Cardano’s ADA has been staked in anticipation of a major milestone in the network’s evolution — one that could set the stage for wider network adoption and a more considerable price appreciation for the cryptocurrency.

Roughly 71.7% of ADA’s circulating supply, worth roughly $31 billion at today’s prices, have been staked across 2,665 active pools, according to data provider PoolTool. On Thursday, the price of ADA was $1.34, having gained 4%.

At current values, ADA is the fifth-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization.

Cardano remains far and away the most capitalized cryptocurrency in terms of staked value. Industry data shows that Ethereum’s staked value is a distant second at $12.2 billion. Solana, Polkadot and Algorand round out the top-five.

Cardano’s staking allows users to earn passive income in the form of ADA without having to lock up their assets for a certain period of time. By comparison, other protocols specify a minimum lock-up period for earning staking rewards.

Related: If the peer review system is broken, what the hell is the point of Cardano's reliance on it?

Investors remain bullish on ADA in anticipation of full smart contract implementation later this summer. As Cointelegraph reported, Input Output Hong Kong, better known as IOHK, launched the Alonzo hard fork in May, paving the way for smart contract capability, possibly as early as August.

In a June 11 update that appeared on YouTube, IOHK revealed that Alonzo now has the capacity to run smart contracts.