Cardano posts strong staking and governance wins. Watch Hydra, Mithril, TVL and ETF developments for catalysts in coming months.
Cardano is trading around $0.82 with a market cap of about $29B, and staking locks most supply, creating a stable base.
Recent governance approval for 96M ADA adds focused funding for development, while DeFi activity remains modest compared with top chains, and liquidity is limited today.
Let’s look at why Cardano is the best crypto to buy today and its growth towards mainstream adoption.
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Cardano On-Chain Health: Users, Staking And Liquidity
Staking participation sits at about 59.45% of eligible ADA, meaning roughly 21.2 billion ADA is delegated, representing roughly $17.4 billion in staked value. Cardano’s Total Value Locked sits around $365 million, with seven day DEX volume under $20 million and weekly app revenue modest.
High delegation reduces readily available supply, which supports chain security and staking yields, but it also constrains liquidity for large trades and limits DeFi depth compared with larger smart contract platforms. That helps explain low TVL and thin depth compared with Ethereum and Solana for now.
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Scalability And Developer Roadmap
The community approved a 96 million ADA treasury disbursement in early August, equal to about $71 million, in a vote that passed with roughly 74% support, allocating funds for core protocol upgrades.
Core teams plan work on Hydra layer 2, Mithril fast sync, and Ouroboros Leios throughput improvements, all intended to reduce fees and raise transactions per second.
These upgrades provide a measurable roadmap for developers and Cardano mainstream adoption, but timelines and implementation risks remain.
Therefore, monitor milestone delivery and developer releases for the main adoption signals. Cardano institutional interest will likely rely on clear performance gains and reliable rollouts.
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Market Access And Risks
Exchanges list ADA widely and an ETF filing has prompted regulatory attention, with the SEC pushing an ETF decision to October 26, 2025.
Institutional flows could increase if a spot ETF clears. For now liquidity and TVL are limited, with TVL around $365M, which raises execution risk for large orders and delays Cardano institutional adoption until depth improves and market makers.
Conclusion
Cardano offers a solid promise for mainstream adoption, with strong staking and a $71M treasury vote funding scalability work. If Hydra and Mithril deliver and TVL or ETF catalysts follow, ADA could reward investors, otherwise risks remain.
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