Cardano’s ADA saw a steep decline in Q4 2025, falling 58.6% quarter-on-quarter to $0.33, according to Messari’s February 20 report. Its circulating market capitalization dropped from $29.5 billion in Q3 to $12.2 billion, pushing ADA to the 11th spot in global rankings.
Source: Messari
Average daily transactions fell 27.4% to 25,970, while active addresses decreased 30% to 18,641. Although there were fewer participants, the average transactions per address increased by 27% to 1.70, indicating that the remaining users were more active.
Source: Messari
The total ADA staked decreased by 2% from the previous quarter to 21.4 billion, with the staking rate declining to 57.80%, or approximately $7.1 billion in USD value.
The total network fees decreased by 38% in USD to $524,202 and by 28.9% in ADA to 742,242 ADA, reflecting the decrease in price.
Also Read: Cardano Price Prediction 2026: Can ADA Break $0.30 or Fall to $0.20?
Governance Reforms Strengthen the Network
Cardano has made significant governance changes in Q4. Following the resignation of the Cardano Atlantic Council from the Constitutional Committee, a swift election restored the committee to its full strength of seven members.
Cardano Curia won the election through delegated ADA votes, and the second-placed candidate, Christina Gianelloni, was added as an alternate member to prevent future governance issues.
The community extended the Net Change Limit (NCL) for treasury withdrawals by eight epochs, until February 8, 2026. The 350 million ADA limit remains in effect, preventing a “spending cliff” and allowing development project funding to continue.
Cardano’s treasury increased by 4.46% quarter-over-quarter to 1.67 billion ADA, but its value in USD decreased by 53.7% to $585.9 million due to the price of ADA.
Source: Messari
Cardano Ecosystem Highlights: DEXs, DeFi, and NFTs
Although the total activity on the network decreased, not all components of the ecosystem performed badly. The average daily trading volume on DEXs increased by 17.3% to $4.44 million.
Source: Messari
Minswap continued to lead the market with 72.4% of the total swap volume, due to its listing on KuCoin and a buyback and burn program. WingRiders and Danogo boosted their trading volumes, while traditional DEXs such as MuesliSwap and Splash decreased.
The total value locked (TVL) in DeFi contracts decreased by 48.1% to $177.3 million, which was worse than the overall market’s decline of 25.2%.
Source: Messari
Minswap dominated the market with a market share of 27%. The average daily sales of Cardano’s NFTs increased by 3.6% to 276, while the trading volume increased by 133.4% to $612,454.
The most notable occurrence was the sale of the “GoodSamaritan” NFT series for $44.8 million. The stablecoins remained constant, with USDM at $14.7 million and USDA at $11.7 million.
Source: Messari
Also Read: Cardano (ADA) Risks Further Downside if Support Fails – Breakdown or Bounce?