The progress of Cardano's smart contracts significantly impacts the value of its native token, ADA. The 2021 Alonzo hard fork introduced smart contract functionality, enabling Cardano to support decentralized applications (dApps) and DeFi, driving ADA’s price to an all-time high of $3.09 that year. However, despite the number of Plutus V2 smart contracts surging to 80,437 in 2024, ADA’s price has not risen accordingly. A sharp drop in new wallet creation and a TVL below its peak suggest insufficient user adoption. While technical advancements enhance Cardano’s potential, ecosystem activity and investor confidence have yet to fully translate into value growth, with ADA’s future trajectory depending on real-world application adoption.