Cardano (ADA +0.46%) reached its all-time high of $3.10 per token in September 2021. But as of this writing, it only trades at about $0.25. Like many other smaller altcoins, Cardano fizzled out as rising interest rates chilled the crypto market. It also didn’t bounce back with Bitcoin (BTC +3.17%) as interest rates declined and the crypto market warmed up again.
Cardano might initially seem like a lost cause, but it has notable strengths and is still expanding its moat. Let’s see why the market might be underpricing this oft-overlooked token.
Image source: Getty Images.
What are Cardano’s core strengths?
Ethereum‘s (ETH +3.10%) co-founder, Charles Hoskinson, launched Cardano in 2017. Unlike Bitcoin, which uses the energy-intensive proof-of-work (PoW) consensus mechanism to mine tokens, Cardano uses the energy-efficient proof-of-stake (PoS) mechanism, which doesn’t support mining. Instead, Cardano minted its tokens on its own Ouroboros blockchain.
Cardano launched its PoS blockchain five years before Ethereum transitioned from PoW to PoS during “The Merge” upgrade in 2022. In 2020, Cardano added staking features to its blockchain, allowing its investors to lock up their tokens to earn interest-like rewards. In 2021, it launched smart contracts to support the development of decentralized apps and other crypto assets.
Cardano’s Layer 1 (L1) blockchain can also achieve real-world speeds of around 250 transactions per second (TPS), compared to Ethereum’s average speed of 15-30 TPS. Its L1 blockchain also charges fixed transaction fees, which are often cheaper than Ethereum’s variable “surge pricing” gas fees. Yet Cardano only serves a few hundred developers, while Ethereum led the PoS blockchain market with 31,869 active developers in late 2025. Cardano serves a smaller pool of developers because it approves each project with formal peer reviews of their scalability and security. Ethereum doesn’t have any similar requirements.
Today’s Change
(0.46%) $0.00
Current Price
$0.25
Key Data Points
Market Cap
$9.2B
Day’s Range
$0.25 – $0.26
52wk Range
$0.23 – $1.01
Volume
431M
How is Cardano widening its moat?
Cardano’s rigid approval standards might throttle its near-term growth, but they could make it a more appealing platform than Ethereum for developing apps for tightly regulated industries. Its new Midnight sidechain — which supports confidential smart contracts, new data protection features, and selective disclosures for regulatory compliance — could support that expansion.
Cardano’s recent updates to its Mithril validation protocol have also improved its syncing efficiency for wallets and nodes, and its upcoming Ouroboros Leios upgrade will significantly boost maximum speeds. Cardano has also been launching more Hydra “heads” — which bundle multiple transactions and process them off-chain at higher speeds — to reach roughly 1,000 TPS and keep up with Solana‘s (SOL +1.62%) faster L1 blockchain and Ethereum’s Layer 2 (L2) new “rollups” — which also bundle together its transactions and process them off-chain.
Cardano might remain out of favor until it attracts more developers, but it’s clearly laying the foundation for a fast, scalable, and secure blockchain platform for larger organizations. So while it might not revisit its all-time highs anytime soon, any good news might drive it back above $1.
