At the end of 2021, a dual power was finally formed on the cryptocurrency market with a slight preponderance of Bitcoin. Ethereum took its place on the throne thanks to the advanced blockchain and complete monopoly in the NTF and DeFi markets. But there is every reason to believe that in 2022 the situation will change and a third force will appear on the cryptocurrency market that can compete with the main altcoin.

We are talking about the Cardano project, whose cryptocurrency failed in the fall of 2021 and fell to local minimums. But that changed in December when the developers presented a two-year roadmap and announced plans to expand into the NFT and DeFi market. The project is already developing its own decentralized platform and platform for NFT creators.

According to Santiment, at the end of 2021, Cardano became the most active cryptocurrency project. During the third quarter, the developers carried out more than 140,000 various updates, improvements, and interactions on the GitHub platform. Thanks to this, the number of unique addresses in the asset network has increased, and the growth of users for the year amounted to 1400%. The trend will continue in 2022 as the project targets the NFT market, which is experiencing its second youth.

As of January 4, total trading volumes increased by 20%. Leading crypto analysts from Bloomberg predict that the upward dynamics of the DeFi market will continue. These factors indicate that in 2022 ADA/USD will make a quantum leap in ecosystem value and update its all-time high.

In addition, the growth of commissions on the ETH network will help the development of the ADA network. Unlike the main altcoin, Cardano focuses on the speed and cheapness of transactions, and therefore its network will have an advantage. Naturally, we will not see a massive outflow of users from Ethereum, but ADA will become one of the most investment-attractive cryptocurrency projects. Scaling towards the DeFi market will increase institutional interest, and the NFT sector will attract an audience of retail investors. Thanks to the development of the project, the quotes of the token will also resume the upward movement.

As of January 4, ADA/USD lost 2% per day and is trading at around $1.33. The altcoin is in the medium-term downtrend of September 3, when rumors began to circulate about the incompatibility of the network and smart contract technology. Despite the impressive fall from the high, trading volumes and the number of unique addresses on the coin network remained high. This is a positive signal indicating the market's interest in the project.

On the daily chart, Cardano made a false breakout of the $1.6 resistance level, after which it dropped to the support zone of $1.3. Now the market is dominated by sellers, which is confirmed by technical indicators: MACD is moving below the zero mark, and the stochastic has made a bearish crossover and will soon leave the bullish zone. The RSI also indicates the absence of active purchases.

The situation around ADA/USD is similar to the dynamics of the BTC price movement. The cryptocurrency market is in a passive state and accumulates volumes before a bullish breakout. And if in the middle of the fourth quarter of 2021 investors left the asset without attention, in 2022 this will not happen, and therefore we have a chance to buy ADA/USD in favorable positions before the protracted altcoin price rally.