Cardano's Price Drops 2.011% Amid DeFi Challenges, TVL Decline

Crypto FrenzySunday, Jun 22, 2025 7:50 pm ET
2min read

Cardano's latest price was $0.5405, down 2.011% in the last 24 hours. The cryptocurrency has been facing significant challenges in its decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem, with the total value locked (TVL) in Cardano-based protocols decreasing by 30% over the past 30 days. This decline is attributed to a weak stablecoin market, which has a total supply of only 30 million, lagging behind rival blockchain ecosystems. The integration with Chainlink, a leading oracle provider, has also been delayed, adding to the market uncertainty. Charles Hoskinson, the founder of Cardano, expressed frustration with the constant delays, citing internal divisions within Chainlink as a potential cause. This integration was expected to enhance Cardano's cross-chain connectivity through the Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol deployed by Chainlink.

Despite these setbacks, Cardano remains committed to its development goals. The Leios upgrade, a redesign of Cardano's consensus mechanism introduced in 2022, aims to address challenges such as throughput and network congestion. The upgrade is expected to optimize resource usage, ensuring that network resources are engaged more efficiently to handle more transactions per second. However, the broader market dynamics have overshadowed the hype surrounding the Leios upgrade, with economic concerns triggered by geopolitical tensions in the Middle East outweighing any potential impact on ADA. The development team behind Cardano, Input Output Global (IOG), has maintained its commitment to Leios, emphasizing its long-term impact on the network's growth and recovery.

Cardano's situation is further complicated by the broader altcoin market's cooling down, which has led to a fear-driven pullback. Market analyst Vlad Hryniv pointed out that ADA is at a major crossroads, with recent data showing a heavy liquidation flush near the $0.60 mark. This forced selling often scares weaker hands out, setting the stage for stronger, more confident buyers to step in. Hryniv opined that key technical and psychological support around $0.60 usually align with extreme oversold signals and liquidation clusters, which historically signal potential bottoms. He added that this could be the inflection point where ADA starts its next rebound, with market sentiment reset and capital rotating back to quality large caps.

Charles Hoskinson, the founder of Cardano, has been working tirelessly to make the Cardano ecosystem truly decentralized and interoperable. His vision for Cardano includes seamless cooperation between all blockchain ecosystems, with a particular focus on interoperability with Bitcoin. Hoskinson is prepared to risk millions in ADA to prove to Bitcoin holders that they can earn passive income with their Bitcoin (BTC) on the Cardano ecosystem. This move is seen as a sign of good faith to the Bitcoin ecosystem, showcasing Cardano's interoperability potential. Hoskinson highlights how Bitcoin is a promising token with greater value, and he aims to have over 50 million Bitcoins placed in Cardano as ADA, inviting Bitcoin holders to see the profits being yielded on the Cardano ecosystem and join in to earn passive income through their Bitcoin holdings via Cardano.

Cardano's upcoming Leios upgrade is expected to significantly increase the network's scalability and transaction efficiency. The upgrade aims to eliminate network congestion even during peak demand, making Cardano more attractive for DeFi platforms and developers. This marks a fundamental shift for the network, enabling smoother and faster operations that could unlock a wave of adoption, particularly for applications that require high throughput and low latency. The market's reaction to Leios could follow two paths—bullish or bearish—depending on broader conditions and investor response. In a bullish scenario, if buyers regain control and sentiment improves, ADA could rally to the $0.65 level, a psychological resistance. However, from a bearish outlook, technical indicators flash caution, with the MACD remaining in negative territory and the RSI sitting at 37, suggesting downward pressure still exists. A failure to attract volume could push ADA back to retest the $0.50–$0.51 support zone.