Cardano (ADA)
Track persisted Cardano market data with a visible source time, plus concise context on ADA staking, governance, development drivers and risks.
ADA market snapshot
- Price
- $0.1929
- 24h change
- +1.50%
- Market cap
- $7.2B
- Market rank
- #16
- 24h volume
- $543.83M
This is the last verified snapshot, but it is older than 6 hours and should not be read as a current quote.
Observed:
Source: CoinGecko market universe · retrieved · evidence artifact:sha256:2d31e6ccdd1002ad4d11f3c4672d3bb40e3679e1268d1bbfee27b6247f611e93
Overview
Cardano is a proof-of-stake blockchain with ADA as its native asset. The network uses an extended unspent-transaction-output accounting model and has introduced smart contracts, native assets and on-chain governance through staged protocol upgrades. ADA is used for fees, staking delegation and governance functions defined by the protocol.
Why Cardano matters
Cardano has a large global holder base, liquid ADA markets and a research-oriented protocol development history. Its relevance depends on more than roadmap delivery: sustained application usage, developer activity, stable infrastructure and effective governance all provide separate evidence about whether technical capacity becomes economic activity.
What can drive ADA
- Active users, application liquidity and fee-paying transactions across Cardano's application ecosystem.
- Protocol upgrades, developer tooling and whether new capabilities translate into maintained products.
- Staking participation, treasury decisions and the operation of on-chain governance.
Risks and evidence limits
- Application adoption and liquidity may lag the network's technical roadmap or available capacity.
- Governance participation can be concentrated or low, affecting the legitimacy and execution of collective decisions.
- Bridge, oracle and application dependencies introduce risks beyond the base consensus protocol.
Market price and network activity do not by themselves establish cause, value or future performance. Venue data can differ.
Published ADA intelligence
Browse all published analysis →Cardano questions
What is ADA used for?
ADA pays transaction fees, can be delegated to stake pools and participates in governance mechanisms defined by the Cardano protocol.
How does Cardano staking work?
ADA holders can delegate stake to pools without transferring ownership. Pools participate in block production under the network's proof-of-stake rules.
What is Cardano's eUTXO model?
It extends the unspent-output model with data and scripting, giving transactions explicit inputs and outputs while supporting programmable validation.
Does a protocol upgrade prove application adoption?
No. An upgrade can add capacity or features, but usage requires separate evidence from applications, users, liquidity and fees.
How is ADA market rank sourced here?
Rank is read from the same completed, persisted CoinGecko market-universe record as price, market cap, volume and 24-hour change.