Cardano's ADA Token Surges 94% in Trading Volume, Driven by Trump's Endorsement

Cardano's ADA token has seen a significant surge in trading volumes, with daily figures averaging around $720 million in February and exceeding $1.4 billion in March. This surge was triggered by a social media post from U.S. President Donald Trump, who mentioned ADA as part of the nation's strategic crypto reserve. Despite this mainstream attention, Cardano has been steadily growing as a crypto powerhouse since its launch in late 2017.

The ADA token has a market cap of $25.6 billion, but its true strength lies in its adoption metrics. The Cardano blockchain boasts over 5 million unique wallets and 1.3 million delegators, with thousands of new wallets being created daily. The blockchain also has $329 million in total value locked (TVL), although Cardano Foundation CEO Frederik Gregaard believes this metric is overemphasized. Instead, he highlights "non-value transactions" such as minting decentralized IDs, tracking metadata, and recording documents, which are prevalent on the Cardano blockchain.

Gregaard aims for 50% of the activity on Cardano to be non-value transactions. An example of this is Cardano's partnership with Veritree, where the community donated over 1 million ADA tokens to plant 1 million mangrove trees in Kenya, with each donation verified and tracked on the blockchain. Additionally, the Cardano Foundation recently announced a deal with SERPRO, Brazil's largest state-owned IT company, to accelerate blockchain adoption in South America. This partnership will see 8,000 employees receive blockchain training.

Cardano's approach differs from other blockchains like Solana, which focus on TVL and hype-driven movements. While Solana's TVL grew from $2.2 billion to over $10 billion in 2024, Cardano's TVL increased from $445 million to $537 million in the same period. Despite this, Cardano still has a thriving DeFi ecosystem. Minswap, Cardano's native decentralized exchange, hit a cumulative trading volume of $3.4 billion this month, with December alone seeing nearly $271 million. There are also several lending protocols on Cardano, with a combined TVL exceeding $116 million.

Gregaard's mission is to maintain a balance between financialized transactions and real-world use cases, aligning with the Cardano Foundation's non-profit ethos. This approach, however, comes with challenges, as the blockchain is run by three main entities: the Cardano Foundation, Charles Hoskinson's IOG, and Emurgo. These entities sometimes have differing interests, leading to friction. An anonymous community member highlighted this in December, detailing disagreements among the entities. Hoskinson acknowledged some of the sentiments, while Gregaard remained diplomatic, emphasizing their close collaboration despite the differences.

Gregaard noted that there is no monetary exchange between the entities, but they work closely together, sharing booths at conferences and sponsoring events. The Cardano Foundation acts as the liability umbrella for the community and the blockchain, interacting with regulatory bodies and negotiating policies. This structure is different from other foundations like Ethereum or Tezos, where the foundation controls the treasury and disbursements. Despite the challenges, Cardano continues to grow, focusing on real-world use cases and community-driven initiatives.