Cardano Whale Holdings Exceed 25.6B ADA, Hitting a 3.5-Year High as Retail Investors Sell Off

Highlights:

• Santiment’s data have shown that Cardano whale holdings have surpassed 25.6 billion tokens, marking a 3.5-year record high.
• The data also revealed that retail investors have significantly reduced their ADA positions.
• ADA’s price has continued to dip as Charles Hoskinson expressed strong conviction about the asset’s long-term potential. 

Cardano whales now control over 25.6 billion ADA. At the same time, wallets holding less than 100 ADA have been dumping the asset. Compared to the past four months, these retailers now own roughly 0.7% less ADA, showing that many smaller holders have significantly reduced their positions. Santiment’s latest data comes from its Supply Distribution metric, which tracks the amount of assets held by different wallet sizes.

The analytical intelligence firm added:

“The FUD around Cardano has been loud, and ADA’s 2026 price action has clearly disappointed, with the asset recently trading near multi-year lows.” 

✍️ TL;DR: Cardano’s key stakeholder holdings reach a 3.5 year high
📊 Metrics Used: Supply Distribution
🔗 Live Chart: https://t.co/9lzM6kxdcb

🦈 Cardano’s 100K to 100M ADA wallets now hold more than 25.6B coins, their highest level since February, 2023.

📉 Retail is doing the… pic.twitter.com/7iHLl5xyHT

— Santiment Intelligence (@SantimentData) July 13, 2026

Santiment Explains the Significance of the Increased Cardano Whale Holdings

According to Santiment, the ongoing acquisition by large holders is unique because it is happening amid a broader crypto market decline, with waning investor confidence. Instead of waiting for prices to recover, these whales have continued to increase their ADA position. Santiment believes that confidence in Cardano stems from ongoing developmental efforts in the Cardano ecosystem. 

Santiment explained:

“Cardano still has active catalysts underneath the surface, including Leios testnet work, ongoing Hydra scaling upgrades, Mithril progress, Pyth oracles, and fresh ecosystem funding activity.”

Overall, Santiment noted that its latest on-chain data does not suggest that ADA’s price will rise immediately. However, historical trends have shown that this pattern of token accumulation is often seen as a positive sign for the asset’s longer-term price outlook.

ADA’s Price Remains Below $0.2 Despite Ongoing Accumulations by Whales

At the time of writing, Cardano’s price is 0.7% down in the past 24 hours. The asset is changing hands at approximately $0.16 and ranks 19th on CoinGecko with a market cap of about $5.926 billion. ADA’s fully diluted valuation is $7.153 billion, while its 24-hour trading volume is $215.647 million. In the past week, month, and year, ADA’s price has dropped by 11.6%, 7.4%, and 78.9%, respectively. Cardano is also 94.9% below its $3.09 all-time high (ATH) attained in September 2021.

Coincodex’s data shows that Cardano’s supply inflation is medium at 3.06%, while its volatility remains high at 7.97%. “Fear & Greed Index continues to point to “Fear” at 28, while sentiment stays bearish. In addition, 87% of the top 100 most valuable cryptocurrencies have outperformed Cardano in the past year. 

Cardano’s Founder Remains Optimistic About ADA’s Long-Term Potential

Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson has expressed strong confidence in Cardano’s future outlook despite its declining price. In a YouTube clip, the founder noted that the asset is on track to regain a spot among the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization and even higher. Speaking about Cardano’s future, Hoskinson said he expects the project to gain much more speed and attention in the next few months. 

He highlighted several ongoing projects that will help Cardano compete strongly with other major platforms. An example is the Ouroboros Leios upgrade. Cardano developers have already released a testnet version of Leios last month, while the mainnet launch is expected later this year. Cardano has also started the first phase of its RealFi testnet. This project aims to bring financial services to people with limited access to traditional banking systems.

🚨 LATEST: Charles Hoskinson says #Cardano could re-enter the crypto top 10 by the end of 2026.

He pointed to upcoming upgrades including Ouroboros Leios and RealFi, saying they could significantly strengthen Cardano’s performance and long-term growth. pic.twitter.com/v5BdAO2oyK

— Don Digital Finance (@niroshan682) July 13, 2026