Cardano (ADA) is showing strong growth in smart contract development. Since the beginning of the year, the number of Plutus scripts on the Cardano network, including Plutus V1 and V2, has surged by 171.45%, 

At this pace, the Cardano network is adding nearly 500 new smart contracts daily. According to data from Cardano Blockchain Insights, the network has achieved 39,000 smart contracts with a special focus on Plutus V2. 

Source: Cardano Blockchain Insights Plutus is a programming language tailored for creating smart contracts on the Cardano blockchain. Its rooted in functional programming principles, prioritizing security and reliability. However, Plutus V2 introduced multiple benefits and features for developers to build upon. 

As such, Plutus V2 offers a wide range of features that reduce transaction sizes and costs and provide a more flexible and scalable framework for developers. 

Breaking down the numbers, there are 6,439 Plutus V1 scripts—a 2.27% increase from January 1— and 32,593 Plutus V2 scripts —an increase of 303.23% from the start of the year. This translates into an average of 495 new smart contracts per day, with around 82 Plutus V1 scripts and 413 Plutus V2 scripts being added daily.

Another metric in which Cardano has grown substantially is in the number of daily active wallets on the network, which surged to 600K. The upswing in this particular metric followed a surge in Cardano’s decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem, peaking at nearly $600M by early March.

As CryptoPotato reported, Cardano has become the leading cryptocurrency by development activity and the highest with weekly engagements, outpacing Ethereum and Avalanche.