# Cardano Network Stats: Transactions, Block Load and ADA Staked

> Cardano network stats by day: transactions, block load, Plutus script share, active wallets by stake key, fees in ADA, ADA staked, pools and the treasury.

Markdown copy of https://voltfincrypto.com/apps/cardano-network-stats

**Question:** How busy is Cardano, and how full are its blocks?

- Kind: Dashboard in Voltfin Vantage
- Topic: [Layer 1 chains](https://voltfincrypto.com/topics/chains)
- Chains: Cardano
- Status: Planned. The data is not published yet, so this page states no figure; each figure will open its receipt when it is.

Cardano records transactions on an extended UTXO ledger, where fees are fixed when a transaction is built and blocks have a size limit instead of a fee auction. This dashboard reads every block to show how Cardano is used each day: transactions, how full blocks run, the share that runs smart-contract scripts and how many wallets are active, along with the ADA paid in fees and the ADA staked through pools each epoch.

Because demand does not push fees up, block load is the measure that shows congestion, so it sits beside the transaction count. Staking runs on five-day epochs with no lock-up, so stake, pools and rewards are read at each epoch boundary. Every figure is pinned to the block and slot it was read at, with a receipt.

## Blueprint

### Activity

Transactions, block load, the script share and active wallets.

- **Transactions, latest day** (count): Transactions in Cardano blocks on the latest complete UTC day.
- **Block load** (%): The average body size of the latest day's blocks as a share of the maximum block size.
- **Script share** (%): Transactions that ran at least one Plutus script, as a share of the latest day's transactions.
- **Active wallets** (count): Distinct stake keys behind the addresses that spent outputs on the latest complete day; addresses without a stake part count alone.
- **Transactions and active wallets by day** (count): Transactions and active wallets by day over the selected period, with block load on a second axis to show when demand met the block limit.

### Fees and staking

Fees paid, ADA in active stake, the pools making blocks and the treasury.

- **Fees paid, latest day** (ADA): Fees paid on the latest complete day, from each transaction's fee field.
- **ADA in active stake** (ADA): ADA delegated to stake pools in the current epoch's active stake snapshot.
- **Block-producing pools** (count): Stake pools that produced at least one block in the latest complete epoch.
- **Treasury balance** (ADA): ADA in the treasury at the latest epoch boundary, from the ledger's accounting state.
- **Fees and rewards by epoch** (ADA): Fees collected each epoch and the rewards paid to pools and delegators, with the share sent to the treasury.

Filters: Period (Last 30 days, 90 days or a year).

## How it will be measured

- Transactions and block load are read from every block: transactions per UTC day, and each block's body size against the maximum block size parameter in force at that epoch.
- Active wallets count the distinct stake credentials attached to the addresses that spent outputs each day, so a wallet that uses many payment addresses counts once.
- Fees are the fee field of each transaction, which covers its size, the script execution units it declares and any reference scripts it uses, converted from lovelace to ADA.
- Active stake, block-producing pools and the treasury are read from the ledger state at each epoch boundary, and every figure carries a receipt with the block and slot it was read at.

## Data it needs

- `chain_activity_daily` (to build): Transactions, active sending addresses, new addresses, contracts created and gas used on each chain per day, counted from blocks and transactions.
- `chain_fees_daily` (to build): Fees paid per chain per day in the native token: base fee and priority fee percentiles, total fees, and the share burned where the chain burns fees.
- `staking_networks_daily` (to build): Staked supply, staking ratio, validators and nominal rewards per proof-of-stake network per day.
- Source: Cardano blocks: slot, epoch, body size, issuing pool and transaction count, with the maximum block size parameter
- Source: Transactions: inputs, outputs and fee, with the redeemers and execution units of Plutus scripts
- Source: Stake distribution per epoch: active stake per pool and per stake credential
- Source: Ledger accounting state at each epoch boundary: reserves, treasury, rewards and fee pots

## Questions

### How are Cardano fees calculated?

A Cardano fee is fixed when the transaction is built: a constant plus a charge per byte, plus a charge for the memory and processing its scripts declare and a fee for any reference scripts it uses. There is no auction for block space, so fees do not spike when blocks are full; transactions wait instead.

### What is block load?

The size of blocks as a share of the largest block the protocol allows. Since fees do not rise with demand, block load is the clearest sign of congestion on Cardano: when it stays high, transactions take longer to be included.

### Why count stake keys instead of addresses?

A Cardano wallet usually spreads funds across many payment addresses that share one stake key. Counting stake keys gives a figure closer to the number of active wallets; addresses without a stake part, such as some exchange and script addresses, are counted on their own.

### How does Cardano staking work?

ADA holders delegate their stake to a pool without locking or moving their ADA, and there is no slashing. Pools are chosen to make blocks in proportion to their stake and rewards are paid every five-day epoch. Since the Plomin hard fork, withdrawing rewards requires delegating a vote to a DRep or a predefined option.

### Where do Cardano staking rewards come from?

From the reserve of ADA not yet in circulation, part of which is released each epoch, plus the epoch's fees. A share goes to the treasury first, and the rest is split between pools and their delegators. The fees and rewards chart shows each part by epoch.

## Glossary

- **Epoch**: A five-day period on Cardano at the end of which stake snapshots are taken and rewards are paid.
- **eUTxO**: Cardano's extended unspent transaction output model, in which outputs can carry data and be locked by scripts.
- **Lovelace**: The smallest unit of ADA, one millionth of a coin, in which fees and balances are recorded.
- **Stake pool**: A block-producing node run by an operator, to which ADA holders delegate stake without moving their funds.
- **Plutus script**: A smart contract on Cardano that decides whether an output can be spent; its execution is charged by memory and processing steps.

## Related apps

- [Cardano Treasury Withdrawals and Governance Votes](https://voltfincrypto.com/apps/cardano-treasury-governance)
- [Staking Yield and Staking Ratio by Chain](https://voltfincrypto.com/apps/staking-yield-by-chain)
- [Layer 1 Blockchain List: Activity, Fees and Staking](https://voltfincrypto.com/apps/layer-1-blockchain-list)
- [Active Addresses by Blockchain: Daily and Monthly](https://voltfincrypto.com/apps/active-addresses-by-blockchain)
- [Validator Count and Nakamoto Coefficient by Chain](https://voltfincrypto.com/apps/validator-count-by-chain)
- [Zcash Shielded Supply: ZEC in Sapling and Orchard Pools](https://voltfincrypto.com/apps/zcash-shielded-supply)

Build it in Voltfin Studio: https://app.voltfincrypto.com/signup?next=%2F