Cardano Sets 1.78M-Transaction Epoch Record, Daily Activity Falls to 23K

Cardano is facing a sustainability test after a record burst of onchain activity earlier this month gave way to a sharp pullback in daily transactions. The network processed more than 1.78 million transactions during Epoch 660, which ran from October 7 to October 11. That was 13.65% above the previous record of 1,566,974 transactions set in November 2021. Cardano also set a daily high on October 8 with over 542,000 transactions, and peak throughput during the period reached 440 TPS. Recent data show activity has cooled. Chainspect recorded 23,439 transactions and 12,155 active addresses over the past 24 hours. The five-day epoch total and the latest daily figures cover different periods, so direct comparison is not appropriate. Even so, Cardano processed at least 249,614 transactions on its least active day in Epoch 660. Against that daily low, the latest 23,439 figure is down 90.6%, raising questions over whether the earlier surge reflected durable user growth or a temporary spike. Other onchain metrics have also weakened. Total value locked on Cardano, which was around $70 million during Epoch 660, has fallen to $57.7 million, a decline of 17.57%. Trading volume on Cardano-based decentralized exchanges is down 28.05% over the past week to $6.08 million. Daily DEX volume now stands at $850,932. Cumulative activity continues to grow. Cardanoscan shows about 126.71 million transactions since the network launched in September 2017. Throughput is currently 0.27 TPS, with transaction finality taking about two minutes. The Epoch 660 record showed Cardano can absorb a large transaction surge. The subsequent slowdown shows that sustaining activity remains a key challenge.