Cardano ( ADA-USD ) perked up 6.7% in Friday afternoon trading as prices of other major cryptocurrencies advanced on the heels of fresh economic data that pointed to the possibility of peak interest rates in the near future. ADA changed hands at $0.40 as 4:12 p.m. ET, on track to close out March 10.5% higher, and like most cryptos, ADA has had a notable rally since the start of 2023, surging 58.7%. Elsewhere, the usefulness of the cardano ( ADA-USD ) blockchain is set to expand as users will soon gain access to ethereum ( ETH-USD ) decentralized applications (daaps) from any cardano wallet. Sebastien Guillemot, CEO of Milkomeda, a network that connects blockchains to Ethereum Virtual Machine smart contracts, said the company "is launching a feature allowing EVERY Cardano user to use EVM contracts directly from ANY Cardano wallet,” according to a Twitter post dated Thursday. An EVM is a virtual computer that developers use to create daaps. Smart contracts are programs stored on a blockchain that automate certain actions required in an agreement (think of if-then logic). See why SA contributor The Digital Trend flagged ADA as a Strong Buy back in January .