As a result, Cardano’s daily transaction activity moved above its reported 2026 average of around 25,000 transactions per day.
$NIGHT Interest Coincides With Rising Cardano Activity
While the exact catalyst behind the latest increase remains unclear, the surge comes amid renewed interest in $NIGHT, the native token of Cardano’s privacy-focused Midnight network.
The development follows a bold assertion from Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson, who suggested that $NIGHT could outperform Zcash and eventually see massive growth next year. Following his commentary, $NIGHT trading activity increased significantly, while its price climbed from around $0.028 to $0.040 on September 30.
Interestingly, $NIGHT reached the $0.04 area on the same day Cardano’s daily transaction count hit its seven-day high. Although $NIGHT has since slipped below $0.04, the token has continued to attract activity, recording 2,344 transactions within a few hours of October 2.
Cardano Transactions Continue to Climb
Meanwhile, Cardano’s network activity has continued to rise beyond the September 30 peak. At the time of writing, the network had recorded 43,200 daily transactions, representing a further 29% increase over the past 24 hours.
The latest increase also comes shortly after Cardano marked its ninth anniversary. At the milestone, the network reported more than 124 million cumulative transactions, alongside nearly 2,887 stake pools and 2,075 validators.
Additionally, Cardano’s average transactions per second (TPS) over the past seven days stands at 0.35, up 10.39% during the period. Meanwhile, the network’s seven-day block time stands at approximately 20.29 seconds.
As Cardano’s transaction activity accelerates, DEX trading volume on the network has also increased significantly over the past week. During this period, weekly DEX volume surged 87.99% to $32.8 million. Meanwhile, 24-hour DEX volume stands at approximately $11 million, highlighting the continued rise in trading activity across Cardano’s decentralized exchanges.
