Cardano's native token, ADA, rebounded on Saturday following a double-digit price crash at the end of the business week. The recovery accompanied two developments highlighted during the TOKEN2049 event: a surge in on-chain network activity and a milestone for a .ada internet domain.
According to data from Santiment Intelligence, Cardano recorded approximately 27,500 daily active addresses on October 7 and nearly as many the following day. This metric reached roughly 1.7 times September's weekday average. Analysts at Santiment noted that active addresses on Bitcoin and Ethereum remained at or below their September norms during the same timeframe.
The spike in network activity coincided with the October 7 launch of CIP-0113, Cardano's new programmable token standard. The Cardano Foundation stated that the standard enables issuers of regulated assets—such as stablecoins and tokenized funds—to embed requirements like KYC, sanctions checks, and transfer restrictions directly into native tokens. The standard went live following independent security audits and recognition by the Capital Markets and Technology Association.
Despite the uptick, Santiment cautioned that activity remains below late-August local highs and it remains to be seen if the increase will persist beyond the initial launch period. ADA recently reached a multi-month peak of $0.28 before a market decline pushed the price below $0.24 on Friday. The asset has since recovered over 7% over a 24-hour period.
In addition to on-chain metrics, the Cardano Foundation revealed at TOKEN2049 that its application for a .ada generic top-level domain has advanced to the next phase of ICANN's New gTLD Program. The proposal previously secured roughly 75% community support via an on-chain Governance Action.
If approved, the .ada extension would function as a standard internet top-level domain comparable to .com or .org. The Cardano Foundation anticipates it could eventually support simplified wallet addresses, decentralized identity integrations, and domain tokenization. ICANN must still evaluate the technical, financial, and operational readiness of the application, with successful domains from the current round expected to be delegated between 2028 and 2030.
