Cardano News Today: Solana's ETF Momentum Challenges Cardano's Market Position

Cardano (ADA) experienced a 20% price decline in recent trading sessions as market participants grapple with a "death cross" technical pattern and setbacks in the cryptocurrency exchange-traded fund (ETF) landscape. The death cross, a bearish indicator formed when a short-term moving average crosses below a long-term average, has historically signaled prolonged downturns in asset prices. Meanwhile, the delayed approval of single-asset crypto ETFs and the growing momentum of competitors like Solana (SOL) have compounded concerns for Cardano's market position, as Charles Hoskinson reacted.

The drop comes despite recent upgrades to the Cardano blockchain aimed at enhancing its utility. In late October, Charles Hoskinson, founder of Cardano, praised the integration of x402, a payment protocol developed by Coinbase, into the network; the x402 integration enables users to pay for online resources via API without requiring logins, emails, or complex authentication methods. Patrick Tobbler, co-founder of Masumi—a decentralized protocol built on Cardano—highlighted that the integration could position Cardano as a "financial backbone" for the AI agent economy by enabling automated, verifiable payments. A demo of x402's capabilities on Cardano's testnet demonstrated minting tokens through a web-based payment flow, though Tobbler emphasized it was a technical showcase with no investment utility.

The x402 adoption aligns with broader efforts to scale Cardano's infrastructure. Input Output, the company behind Cardano, announced in September that its Ouroboros Leios consensus protocol is transitioning from research to active engineering. Leios aims to significantly boost the network's scalability and throughput, addressing long-standing criticisms about Cardano's transaction speeds. However, these developments have yet to offset investor anxieties about ETF-related headwinds.

The U.S. ETF landscape has become a critical battleground for crypto adoption. While Grayscale's CoinDesk Crypto 5 ETF (GDLC)—which includes ADA—launched on the NYSE in October, the product is a multi-asset fund covering Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, XRP, and Cardano. This contrasts with the growing momentum of single-asset crypto ETFs, particularly for Solana. Bitwise, Grayscale, and other major asset managers received regulatory greenlights to launch Solana-focused ETFs, with Bitwise's Solana ETF set to debut on October 31. The approval of these funds, facilitated by the SEC's recent generic listing standards for spot commodity ETFs, has intensified competition for Cardano.

Institutional interest in Solana further underscores the challenge. Reliance Global Group recently added Solana to its digital asset treasury, joining holdings in Bitcoin, Ethereum, and XRP (Reliance Global Group added Solana). The move reflects broader institutional adoption of high-performance blockchains, a category where Solana's throughput and low fees have gained traction. Meanwhile, Binance's integration of an x402-compatible token list in its wallet has expanded access to micropayment-enabled projects, indirectly supporting Solana's ecosystem.

Analysts suggest the ETF environment could reshape market dynamics. With multiple Solana ETFs poised to launch in late October, the asset's institutional exposure may outpace Cardano's, despite the latter's technical upgrades. "The ETF race is accelerating, and Cardano's inclusion in a multi-asset fund may not be enough to capture the same retail and institutional enthusiasm," said one industry observer in a Crypto.news piece on Solana ETF launch prospects.