Cardano (ADA +0.30%) could be in store for an exciting 2026, if CEO Charles Hoskinson's plans come to fruition. He's aiming to build Cardano's decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem. The cryptocurrency's executive layer has proposed allocating 70 million ADA tokens for a strategic integration fund to invest in blockchain bridges, stablecoins, and crypto wallet upgrades.
DeFi is an area where Cardano has lagged the competition. Rivals Ethereum (ETH +1.77%) and Solana (SOL +1.21%) have $69 billion and $9 billion, respectively, of total value locked (TVL) into DeFi protocols (as of Dec. 20). Cardano has $178 million.
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Cardano's price is currently well under $1 (about $0.37, at the time of this writing). Even though this cryptocurrency is cheap right now, that doesn't necessarily mean we're looking at a buying opportunity.
Cardano has failed to capture much interest
Cardano has an ambitious roadmap and some interesting projects underway. In addition to its DeFi push, Cardano also recently launched Midnight, a partner chain with privacy-enhancing features. But other blockchain networks have been far more successful in gaining investor support.
The results over the past few years have been bleak for Cardano investors. Since peaking at $3.10 in 2021, the cryptocurrency has lost 88% of its value, and it hasn't come close to that high mark. While other coins have also gone through extended downturns, many of the big names (including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana) have set new all-time highs in 2025.
Activity levels are also much lower on Cardano. It often has fewer than 20,000 daily active users, according to data from Artemis Analytics. Ethereum regularly has over 500,000, and Solana frequently has over 3 million.
CRYPTO: ADA
Key Data Points
Considering Cardano's poor performance recently, it's hard to be certain that 2026 is when it turns things around. This isn't your last chance to buy Cardano, and you may want to wait and see if its plans produce legitimate results before you invest.
