Despite Free Fall Whale holdings of Cardano’s ADA at an All-Time High

Whales, or large investors, seem to be picking up Cardano’s ADA cryptocurrency at historic rates. Last week, the ADA balance held by wallet addresses with 1 million to 10 million coins reached an all-time high of 12 billion ADA ($9.72 billion), according to Coindesk. According to statistics from the blockchain monitoring company IntoTheBlock, the surge marks a 41 percent increase since January.

The success of Cardano’s Decentralized Exchange, SundaeSwap, and the development of its Alonzo Smart Contracts may have inspired trust in the whales.

The total value locked (TVL) in the Cardano network climbed by $50 million in a week, hitting a new high of $160.79 million, according to DefiLama, a site that records DeFi statistics. According to DefiLlama’s statistics, about 70% of money are locked in SundaeSwap, validating the hypothesis of the decentralized exchange’s growing popularity.

Total value locked (TVL) refers to the total value of crypto assets placed in a DeFi protocol. It has become an important statistic for assessing interest in the crypto industry’s DeFi sector.

Cardano has been in freefall for the previous seven months, so this is a surprise change of events. The so-called Ethereum killer reached an all-time high of $3.12 in September 2021, only to see a steady drop of more than 70% since then. And, with a current price of $0.83, it seems that Cardano is trapped in an endless downward market.

Cardano marketed itself as a smart contract platform, although it launched with no smart contracts and just a handful of DeFi protocols, the most notable of which was the DEX SundaeSwap. Cardano, on the other hand, is gradually adding numerous smart contracts, such as the Alonzo update.

“After years of not introducing smart contracts, Cardano looks to be exhibiting signals of promise for more to come. This looks to be translating into a buildup of ADA from major participants “IntoTheBlock’s head of research, Lucas Outumuro, said in a weekly report issued on Friday.

“After years of missing smart contract capabilities, Cardano is now gaining momentum in its application layer,” Outmuro said, adding that “DEXs on Cardano have attracted financing from respectable crypto firms like as Three Arrows Capital.”

AdaSwap, another Cardano-based DEX, completed a successful funding round last week, receiving $2.6 million from venture capital company iAngels and numerous other investors, including the well-known Hollywood actress Gal Gadot.

This year, whale holdings have climbed by more than 40%. “Following a 70% correction, these addresses have been actively collecting. This category, as well as those with more over 100 million ADA, had double-digit increase month after month “Outumuro elaborated.

The acquisition of ADA by whales might foreshadow a possible bull run for Cardano in the near future. Whales were departing their position on Cardano with a major sell-off in September, prior to the downturn, which effectively turned out to be an advance indication of the future price decline. If the trend holds, Cardano investors might be in for a nice time.