ADA whales are increasing their holdings at record pace

Cardano’s ADA token has been in the limelight as a potential Ethereum killer since its smart contract mainnet launched in 2021. The project that is largely community backed has been able to bring in big money investors, who are popularly known as whales in the cryptocurrency space. Today we are seeing that these whales are increasing their ADA stash.

Data reveals that whales appear to be bargain-hunting Cardano’s ADA token as the programmable blockchain’s decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols see rapid growth. This comes after the launch of SundaeSwap, a decentralized exchange (DEX), in January 2022, which currently has a Total Value Locked (TVL) of $114.36 million.

Data provided by blockchain analytics firm, IntoTheBlock reveals that the balance held by addresses with 1 million to 10 million coins rose to a record 12 billion ADA ($9.72 billion) last week, a 41% gain since late January.

What you should know

• The TVL on the Cardano network has increased by $50 million in a week, hitting an all-time high of $160.79 million, according to Defi Llama. More than 71% of the funds are locked in SundaeSwap.
• We are also seeing along of venture capital organization investing in projects building on the Cardano blockchain. Last week, Cardano-based DEX AdaSwap announced a $2.6 million fund raise led by venture capital firm iAngels and several other investors, including actor and producer Gal Gadot and her husband Jaron Varsano. The first

What they are saying

• Lucas Outumuro, head of research at IntoTheBlock, said in a weekly report published on Friday that “Cardano appears to be showing signs of promise for more to come after years without launching smart contracts. This appears to be translating into an accumulation of ADA from large players.”
• He further stated, “After years of lacking smart contract capabilities, Cardano is starting to show some traction in its application layer. DEXes on Cardano have raised capital from reputable crypto funds such as Three Arrows Capital.”
• On whale increasing their holdings, Lucas had this to say, “Following a 70% correction, these addresses have now been accumulating aggressively. This group, as well as those holding over 100M ADA, recorded double-digit growth month over month. These [whale] addresses had previously sold a large amount of their holdings right before ADA began to crash.”

The renewed interest by large investors is a sign of good times ahead, assuming the broader market finds a footing. Whale selling in early September turned out to be an advance indicator of a price slide. ADA peaked above $3 on September 2 and has lost more than 70% since then. It is currently trading $0.8080 as of the time of this writing.