Cryptocurrency Cardano (ADA) has risen to new highs, trading at an apogee value of $3.09 on Thursday, according to Coingecko. 

Cardano’s ascent to being the third-largest cryptocurrency traded in the world comes from claims to be a climate conscious cryptocurrency. Its scheduled network upgrade billed for this month is said to also positively rob off.

The token has been on an uphill climb the past month, after Charles Hoskinson announced a September network upgrade named “Alonzo”. 

“The Cardano Testnet now officially supports Plutus smart contracts. Final testing & integrations ahead. SPOs will now upgrade their mainnet nodes. Then next stop… mainnet upgrade. Still on track for 12 September. Onward!” He tweeted.

This upgrade will allow the Cardano blockchain process smart contracts and agreements between buyers and sellers. This will allow the digital asset to compete with Ethereum that currently dominates the decentralised finance industry.

Peoples Gazette reported that Cardano’s price doubled in August, hitting $166.4 billion.

The lowest price of the token was USD 1.2223 in July, but as of the time of filing this report a Cardano coin is trading for about $3 per unit, raising its market cap to over $90 billion and making it the third-largest crypto traded globally.