Tokenized RWA Market Crosses $50B as BlackRock BUIDL Hits $10B
Cardano ADA
Rank #15$0.240998▼ +1.73%(24h)▼ +3.63%(7d)
24h Low $0.238924h High $0.246
Market Cap
$8.92B
24h Volume
$242.72M
Circulating
37.01B ADA
All-Time High
$3.09
▼ +92.19% from ATH
Cardano Price Chart
Key Metrics
Market Cap
$8.92B
Volume (24h)
$242.72M
Circulating Supply
37.01B ADA
Max Supply
45B ADA
Cardano Converter
Cardano Converter
ADA
$USD
1 ADA = $0.24
Cardano Historical Data
| All-Time High | $3.09 (September 2, 2021) |
| All-Time Low | $0.019253 (March 13, 2020) |
Where to Buy Cardano
About Cardano (ADA)
What is Cardano?
Cardano (ADA) is a proof-of-stake smart contract platform built around peer-reviewed academic research and a phased rollout. It was founded by Charles Hoskinson, a co-founder of Ethereum, and the network launched in September 2017. Cardano takes a deliberately slower path than competitors, with each major upgrade preceded by published research papers and formal verification.
ADA is the native token. It pays for transaction fees, supports staking on the network, and is required for governance participation. Total supply is hard-capped at 45 billion ADA, with around 36 billion currently in circulation. Cardano was named after the 16th-century mathematician Gerolamo Cardano; ADA was named after the 19th-century mathematician Ada Lovelace.
Cardano price today
The Cardano price comes from supply and demand across spot and derivatives markets. The most active pairs are ADA/USD, ADA/USDT, and ADA/BTC. Live data on this page is aggregated from a multi-venue market feed and refreshes every 60 seconds.
What moves Cardano on any given day:
- Network upgrade milestones. Cardano follows a five-era roadmap (Byron, Shelley, Goguen, Basho, Voltaire). Each major release has historically driven sustained price moves.
- Spot ETF speculation. Several issuers have filed for spot Cardano ETFs. Each filing milestone moves the ADA price.
- DeFi total value locked. Cardano DeFi is smaller than Ethereum or Solana but has been growing through projects like Minswap, Indigo, and Liqwid.
- Staking flows. Around 60% of all ADA is staked. Yield averages 2 to 4% APR with no lock-up period.
The numbers in the price card above are live. The analysis below uses the levels at page load. For multi-year scenarios, see our Cardano price forecast.
Cardano’s academic-first approach
Cardano takes a slower development path than most major chains. Each protocol upgrade is preceded by formal research published in peer-reviewed venues. The approach has trade-offs: Cardano launched smart contracts later than most competitors, but no consensus-level outage has hit Cardano mainnet since launch.
- Ouroboros is the proof-of-stake consensus that secures Cardano.
- Plutus runs on-chain smart contracts in a deterministic UTXO model.
- Hydra adds payment-channel scalability for high-throughput use cases.
- Mithril provides fast, light-client snapshots of chain state.
The development is led by three organizations: Input Output Global (IOG, formerly IOHK) for engineering, the Cardano Foundation for stewardship, and Emurgo for commercial adoption.
Cardano staking
Cardano staking is one of the more user-friendly experiences in crypto. There is no lock-up period, no minimum stake, and no slashing. Rewards are distributed every five days (one Cardano epoch).
- Pick a Cardano wallet. Daedalus (full node) and Eternl, Lace, or Yoroi (light wallets) all support staking.
- Choose a stake pool. Cardano runs on roughly 3,000 stake pools operated by independent operators. Pool ranking factors include uptime, fees, pledge size, and saturation.
- Delegate ADA. The delegation does not move the funds. Your ADA stays in your wallet, and the wallet earns staking rewards based on the pool’s production.
- Compound or withdraw. Rewards arrive every five days. You can leave them to compound or withdraw without unstaking.
Annual yield is typically 2 to 4% APR. There is no slashing risk for delegators. Solo stake-pool operation is more involved but possible for technical users.
Cardano DeFi and ecosystem
Cardano DeFi started later than Ethereum or Solana. Smart contracts launched in September 2021 with the Alonzo hard fork, four years after the network went live. The ecosystem has been growing since then.
- Minswap. Largest DEX on Cardano by total value locked.
- Indigo Protocol. Synthetic asset issuance using ADA collateral.
- Liqwid Finance. Lending and borrowing protocol.
- WingRiders, MuesliSwap, SundaeSwap. Other major DEXes.
- Iagon. Decentralized cloud storage and computing.
Cardano DeFi remains smaller than Ethereum, Solana, or BNB Chain. Total value locked sits in the low billions. Cardano’s next leg of growth turns on developer adoption of Plutus and Aiken (a newer Cardano smart-contract language).
How to buy Cardano
Buying Cardano follows the same five-step flow that works for any major coin.
- Pick a regulated exchange with deep ADA/USD liquidity, transparent fees, and at least one independent security audit. Our exchange ratings compare the leading options.
- Verify your identity. KYC usually takes under 10 minutes.
- Fund the account. Direct ADA deposits from another wallet settle in under a minute. Bank transfers and stablecoins both work for new buyers.
- Place the order. Market or limit. Use TWAP for positions over $10,000.
- Move ADA into self-custody. Hardware wallets (Ledger, Trezor) for long-term holdings. Software wallets (Eternl, Lace, Yoroi, Daedalus) for active use and staking.
Cardano vs Ethereum vs Solana
Cardano competes with Ethereum and Solana as a smart-contract platform. The differences come down to philosophy and trade-offs.
- Approach: Cardano prioritizes peer-reviewed research and formal verification. Ethereum prioritizes a large developer ecosystem and modular scaling. Solana prioritizes raw throughput and low fees.
- Throughput: Cardano L1 handles around 250 TPS with Hydra L2 pushing higher. Ethereum L1 handles 15 TPS. Solana handles 3,000+ TPS.
- Yield: Cardano staking returns 2 to 4% APR with no lock-up or slashing. Ethereum staking returns 3 to 4%. Solana staking returns 6 to 8%.
- DeFi size: Solana > Ethereum > Cardano by total value locked.
- Decentralization: Cardano has the largest stake pool count of any major PoS chain (around 3,000). Ethereum has more validators but more concentrated stake. Solana runs on fewer, larger validators.
Cardano is most often held as a longer-horizon bet on its peer-reviewed development model, distinct from faster-moving competitors.
Risks of holding Cardano
Price swings are the headline risk. The structural risks tied to Cardano’s slow shipping cadence and rising competition matter just as much.
- Drawdown. ADA has dropped 90% or more from cycle highs more than once. Position sizes should assume the same is possible again.
- Adoption risk. Cardano has historically been slower to attract developers than Ethereum or Solana. Growth depends on continued ecosystem expansion.
- Concentration. Input Output Global, the Cardano Foundation, and Emurgo control significant influence over development. Voltaire era governance changes are addressing this.
- Smart-contract complexity. Plutus uses an unfamiliar UTXO model and Haskell-based language. The learning curve has slowed developer adoption.
- Competition. Ethereum L2s and high-throughput chains have captured most new DeFi activity. Cardano needs differentiated use cases to grow market share.
This page is information, not financial advice. Talk to someone licensed before allocating real capital.
Cardano price analysis
At the time of writing, Cardano (ADA) trades at $0.240998, with a 24-hour trading volume of $242.72M and a total market capitalization of $8.92B. The asset is currently ranked #15 among all tracked cryptocurrencies by market cap.
Over the last 24 hours, the ADA price has dropped +1.73%. On the seven-day chart, Cardano has retraced +3.63%, under sustained selling pressure in both timeframes. Short-term price swings are often amplified by liquidity conditions, news flow, and derivatives positioning, so traders should confirm signals across multiple indicators before acting.
Cardano's all-time high of $3.09 was set on September 2, 2021. The current market price is +92.19% below that historical peak. Distance from the all-time high is a common reference point when evaluating long-term recoveries and identifying macro support or resistance levels.
How to buy Cardano
Buying Cardano (ADA) is straightforward once you know which exchange to use and which trading pair offers the best liquidity. The steps below describe the typical flow used by most investors today.
- Choose a reputable exchange. Pick a platform that lists ADA with deep liquidity, transparent fees, and strong security practices. Our top-rated exchanges guide compares the leading venues side-by-side.
- Create and verify your account.Complete the exchange's KYC process — most platforms require a government-issued ID and a short identity check. Verification is usually a one-time step that takes just a few minutes.
- Deposit funds. Fund your account with fiat currency via bank transfer, card, or a stablecoin like USDT or USDC. Stablecoin deposits typically offer the fastest settlement and lowest fees.
- Place a buy order. Navigate to the ADA/USD or ADA/USDT pair and either execute a market order for instant fills or set a limit order at your preferred entry price.
- Secure your ADA. For long-term holdings, consider moving your tokens to a non-custodial wallet — a hardware device for the highest security, or a reputable software wallet for frequent access.
You can also use the built-in Cardano converter above to estimate exactly how much ADA you would receive for a given amount in USD before placing an order.
Is Cardano a good investment?
Whether Cardano is a good investment depends on your goals, time horizon, and tolerance for volatility. Like all cryptocurrencies, ADA carries significant market risk — prices can rise or fall sharply in a single day, and past performance is not a reliable indicator of future returns.
Potential strengths
- Ranked #15 by market cap with an established trading history and active exchange coverage.
- Transparent on-chain data: real-time supply, circulation metrics, and publicly auditable transactions.
- Ongoing ecosystem development and community engagement, as reflected in Smart Contract Platform, Layer 1 (L1) sector activity.
Key risks to consider
- Volatility: 24-hour moves of 5–15% are common in crypto markets.
- Regulatory uncertainty: changes in policy across major jurisdictions can materially affect price and access.
- Liquidity and custody risk: not all exchanges are equally safe, and self-custody requires careful key management.
This page provides data and analysis for educational purposes only. It is not financial advice. Always do your own research, diversify, and never invest more than you can afford to lose.
FAQ
What is Cardano used for?
Cardano is used as a smart-contract platform for decentralized finance, NFTs, identity systems, and supply-chain applications. The Cardano Foundation has partnered with several governments on identity and credential verification projects. ADA, the native token, is used for staking, transaction fees, and governance voting in the Voltaire era.
Is Cardano a good investment?
It depends on your time horizon and your view of academic-first blockchain development. Cardano has produced large gains and large drawdowns. The slower rollout has frustrated some investors and rewarded others. Holders with multi-year horizons who believe in the research-driven approach have held through multiple cycles. Short-term traders have faced sharp moves around upgrade milestones.
Who created Cardano?
Charles Hoskinson founded Cardano. He was previously a co-founder of Ethereum but left in 2014 over disagreements about the project’s direction. He partnered with Jeremy Wood to create Input Output Global (IOG, formerly IOHK), the engineering company behind Cardano. The Cardano Foundation handles stewardship, and Emurgo handles commercial adoption.
How does Cardano staking work?
You delegate ADA to a stake pool through any Cardano wallet (Daedalus, Eternl, Lace, Yoroi). Your ADA never leaves your wallet. The pool earns rewards by producing blocks, and your share of those rewards is distributed every five days. There is no lock-up period, no minimum stake, and no slashing for delegators. Annual yield averages 2 to 4%.
Cardano vs Ethereum: which is better?
They serve different audiences. Ethereum has more developers, more total value locked, and more active DeFi. Cardano has stronger research foundations, formal verification, and a more decentralized stake pool network. Most institutional crypto allocations include Ethereum. Cardano sits in allocations focused on longer-horizon bets on academic-driven development.
What is the maximum supply of ADA?
Cardano has a hard cap of 45 billion ADA. Approximately 36 billion are in circulation. The remaining ADA is reserved for staking rewards, which are distributed gradually over time. The reward pool decreases as it depletes, leading to a steadily falling staking yield over the network’s lifetime.
Can Cardano reach $10?
A $10 ADA price would mean a market cap near $360 billion at current circulating supply, larger than any non-Bitcoin cryptocurrency has reached so far. That is possible but not certain. Drivers would be sustained ETF inflows, growing DeFi total value locked, completion of the Voltaire governance era, and broader institutional adoption. A handful of research desks (including VanEck and Standard Chartered) have published multi-year ADA targets in the $1 to $5 range. None of those projections is a guarantee.
Is Cardano legal?
Cardano is legal in most countries, including the US, the UK, the EU, Canada, Japan, and Australia. The US SEC named ADA as an "unregistered security" in lawsuits against several exchanges in 2023, but those claims have not been tested in court for ADA specifically. A small number of jurisdictions, including China and Algeria, restrict cryptocurrency broadly.
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