Cardano Faces Pressure in Q2 with $20.7B Market Cap and Falling Transactions

• Cardano’s ADA slipped 14% in Q2 to $0.57, with its market cap falling to $20.7 billion.
• Network activity slowed, with daily transactions dropping 29% and fees in USD plunging 45%.
• Treasury reserves grew in ADA terms, but price volatility weighed on dollar value.

Cardano ended the second quarter of 2025 under pressure, as the latest report from Messari revealed declines across key financial indicators. ADA’s price fell 14% quarter-over-quarter to $0.57, dragging its market capitalization down 13% to $20.7 billion.

The dip in market cap was slightly cushioned by a 0.4% increase in circulating supply. Even so, ADA slipped from ninth to tenth in the global ranking by circulating market cap.

While the broader set of Layer-1 networks, excluding Bitcoin, managed an average 16% growth during the same period, Cardano’s performance lagged significantly.

This divergence suggests weaker investor sentiment for ADA compared to its peers, who gained traction during a stronger quarter for the crypto market overall.

Also Read: Cardano (ADA) Price Outlook: Can It Reclaim Its $3.10 ATH Before 2026?

Fees, Treasury, and Governance Shifts

Network transaction fees plummeted, too. Fees dropped 29% to 1.1 million ADA and by 45% to only $724,600 in dollar terms.

Falls were caused by both ADA’s diminished price and a 36% decline in daily transactions. Average day transactions fell to 22,600, and active addresses by 36% to 31,200.

Considering these setbacks, Cardano’s ADA treasury balance increased by 5% to 1.8 billion ADA. However, its value in dollars declined by 11% to approximately $1 billion, reflecting the impact of ADA’s volatile price fluctuations.

The treasury is an important future source of development funding that is supported by 20% of network transaction fees, an amount that can be redesigned with community governance.

Now, with the Plomin hard fork that occurred in January of 2025, this system of governance is even more paramount to the decision-making of Cardano’s ecosystem.

Cardano Staking Climbs to 21.9B ADA

Staking is still one of Cardano’s bright spots despite general marketplace softness. Overall staked ADA increased 0.78% to 21.9 billion, with the staking rate ticking higher to 60.1%.

But in terms of USD, staked value decreased by close to 13% to $12.5 billion because of the drop in the price of ADA.

The network’s transaction fee average in dollar terms declined by 12% to $0.25, while in ADA terms, it increased by 9% to 0.38, highlighting how volatility impacts fees for users.

Network activity has been concentrated among smaller sets of users and transactions, and address usage has fewer transactions and address usage per day.

Also Read: Cardano ADA Enters Institutional Spotlight as Reliance Allocates to $120M Treasury