Cardano Whales Accumulate ADA as TVL Falls Below $125M

TLDR

• Cardano whales increased their holdings to 25.11 billion ADA despite the token’s sharp yearly decline.
• Santiment said millionaire ADA wallets now control 67.5% of the total Cardano supply.
• ADA has lost more than 70% in the past year and remains below the $0.25 resistance level.
• DeFiLlama data shows Cardano’s TVL has dropped below $125 million after peaking near $721 million.
• Analysts said ADA must hold stronger support before a larger bullish recovery can gain credibility.

Cardano whales have increased their ADA holdings to a multi-year high even as the token has suffered deep losses.

Santiment said wallets holding at least 1 million ADA now control 25.11 billion tokens. The analytics platform said this is the highest level for these wallets since December 2017. Santiment also reported that these large wallets now hold 67.5% of Cardano’s total supply. According to the firm, this is the strongest concentration since July 2020.

The buildup has come during a difficult period for ADA. The token has lost more than 70% over the past year. In 2026, ADA has dropped another 30%. Several attempts to move above $0.25 have failed, according to market data cited in the report.

Cardano Whales Keep Buying ADA

Santiment described the rise in large ADA wallets as a long-term factor. The firm said some investors may view the trend positively. It added that large holders often show confidence when they add exposure during weak price periods.

However, Santiment did not say the accumulation guarantees a price recovery. The same data shows that ADA supply has become more concentrated among millionaire wallets. For traders, this keeps attention on Cardano whales while ADA remains below key resistance.

At current levels, ADA still trades near an important support zone around $0.22. Trader Val Me said the chart looks “very sad-looking” on higher time frames. She said ADA could rebound from the current area or sweep equal lows before any recovery.

The wallet data has arrived as critics continue to question Cardano’s network activity. Earlier this month, crypto analyst Ali Martinez said Cardano’s actual usage remains small compared with its multibillion-dollar valuation.

Martinez said Cardano’s DeFi ecosystem has never crossed $1 billion in total value locked. He also said the network trails Ethereum by a wide margin. According to Martinez, newer chains such as SUI have already attracted stronger usage.

Martinez added that Cardano has not built a clear niche for developers, users, and capital. He said the project’s research-heavy model has slowed some feature rollouts. Other market experts also questioned whether Cardano ranks among crypto’s most overvalued blockchain networks.

DeFiLlama Data Shows TVL Decline

DeFiLlama data shows Cardano TVL has fallen below $125 million at the time of writing. According to DeFiLlama, the figure is down 82% from nearly $721 million in November 2024.

The drop adds pressure to Cardano’s growth debate. Martinez tied part of his criticism to limited DeFi activity on the network. His comments suggest that ADA’s valuation remains a key concern among skeptics.

Val Me said ADA may climb toward $0.50 if it recovers from current levels. She added that such a move could still create only a lower high. In that case, the token could later retest the same support zone.

The analyst said a stronger bullish case would require ADA to hold a higher low later. Under that scenario, she cited a possible path toward $1.35. Even then, Val Me said the $1.35 view remains an overstatement for now.

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