Cardano News Today: Cardano's Privacy Push Fails to Stem 6.5% ADA Slide

Cardano (ADA) faces mounting pressure in 2025 as its price plummeted 6.5% to $0.6304 in late October, despite the completion of a major milestone for its privacy-focused sidechain, Midnight's mint event. The token's decline underscores broader market fragility, with crypto markets down 4% amid macroeconomic headwinds. Meanwhile, large-scale selling by whales dumping 350 million ADA has amplified volatility and eroded investor confidence.

The Midnight project, which minted its full 24 billion NIGHT token supply on October 20, was expected to catalyze renewed interest in Cardano. The sidechain promises zero-knowledge privacy features and institutional adoption, yet the price reaction has been muted. Analysts attribute this to structural weaknesses in ADA, which has failed to reclaim critical support levels like $0.07 and now teeters near $0.53 as a key near-term floor. The project's transition to the gamified Scavenger Mine phase-airdropping tokens ahead of a mainnet launch-has yet to translate into sustained bullish momentum.

Cardano's struggles are compounded by its lofty ambitions to reclaim dominance over rivals like Binance Coin (BNB). To surpass BNB's $148.77 billion market capitalization, ADA would need a 540% rally to $4.15, assuming a stable circulating supply of 35.9 billion tokens, according to TheCryptoBasic report. While some analysts, like analyst Javon Marks remain bullish, predicting a 333% surge to $2.96 based on technical patterns, the path to such gains appears fraught. The token's recent breakdown below $0.70 and its inability to maintain higher highs post-2023's breakout have fueled skepticism.

The Cardano Foundation's efforts to strengthen its ecosystem-such as .ada and .cardano domain names-have also failed to buoy sentiment. While the initiative aims to enhance digital trust and innovation, ADA's price remains stagnant, trading at a 1.6% dip in the last 24 hours. Critics argue that the project's fundamentals remain weak, with one X user dismissing ADA as "worthless."

Whale activity further clouds the outlook. The sale of 350 million ADA tokens-a rare event-signals profit-taking or portfolio rebalancing, exacerbating short-term volatility. Santiment data reveals declining unique daily addresses and bearish technical indicators, including a negative MACD, suggesting further downside risks to $0.46 if selling persists.

Despite these challenges, Cardano's ecosystem continues incremental progress. Midnight's mainnet launch, slated for Q4 2025, and partnerships with Ledger and Trezor hint at long-term potential. However, with just two months left in 2025, the question looms: Can ADA's proponents overcome bearish momentum to avoid being labeled the year's most disappointing crypto asset?