Cardano (ADA) News Today – Price Holds Near $0.42 as Chain Split Fallout, Exchange Push and ‘Revival’ Narrative Collide (November 26, 2025)

Cardano’s ADA token is trading in the low $0.40s today as the network continues to digest one of its most serious technical incidents to date, a contentious community vote on treasury funds, and a bold “Cardano revival” pitch from founder Charles Hoskinson. All of this is playing out against a shaky crypto market that has some analysts warning of further downside even as others call for a new all‑time high.

Below is a breakdown of the key Cardano crypto news for Wednesday, November 26, 2025.

Cardano (ADA) Price Today: Low $0.40s and Near 1‑Year Lows

Across major data providers, ADA is trading roughly between $0.41 and $0.42 today:

YCharts shows Cardano at $0.4220 as of November 26, 2025, down about 1.4% from yesterday and more than 55% from the same time a year ago. ^[1]
CoinDesk lists ADA around $0.413 with a market cap near $15.1 billion and a circulating supply of about 36.6 billion ADA, putting it firmly in the top 10 crypto assets by market cap. ^[2]
CoinMarketCap and CoinGecko show similar spot prices and market caps, with about 35.9 billion ADA in circulation out of a maximum 45 billion. ^[3]

Despite today’s relatively flat action, the bigger picture is rough:

CoinCentral notes ADA is trading near $0.41, its lowest level in over a year, about 70% below its December 2024 peak around $1.37. ^[4]
The same analysis highlights that Cardano’s DeFi total value locked (TVL) has fallen roughly 36% over the last 30 days to around $186 million, with less than $40 million in stablecoins on-chain, feeding “ghost chain” criticisms. ^[5]
Technical data compiled by Changelly shows ADA trading near $0.42, with a bearish market sentiment, an RSI near 31 (oversold territory) and an “Extreme Fear” reading (Fear & Greed Index ~20), plus 14% monthly volatility. ^[6]

In short: Cardano is cheap and under pressure, but also technically oversold—exactly the sort of backdrop that fuels both bullish “bottom is in” calls and dire warnings of further downside.

The Chain Split: How One Malformed Transaction Forked Cardano in Two

The biggest Cardano story hanging over today’s price is the November 21 mainnet chain split, which is still dominating headlines and community discussions.

According to post‑mortems and independent reporting:

On November 21, a single malformed staking‑delegation transaction exploited a dormant deserialization bugin newer versions of Cardano node software. ^[7]
Newer nodes accepted the malformed transaction; older nodes rejected it. This disagreement caused the mainnet to bifurcate into a “poisoned” chain and a “healthy” chain with two competing transaction histories. ^[8]
The split lasted roughly 14–15 hours, during which:
- Stake pool operators produced blocks on both branches.
- Exchanges paused deposits and withdrawals of ADA as a precaution.
- Wallets and DeFi protocols reported inconsistent balances and state. ^[9]
A coordinated hotfix and node upgrade was rolled out to re‑unify the network under a single canonical chain. Cardano governance group Intersect and other core teams emphasized that no user funds were lost and that the network never fully halted, though block producers on the wrong side of the fork lost rewards. ^[10]

DL News describes the episode as “arguably [Cardano’s] biggest attack ever,” noting that a pseudonymous developer used AI‑generated code to craft the malicious transaction and later apologized. Founder Charles Hoskinson, however, publicly framed it as a targeted, premeditated attack, and said he had contacted the FBI about the incident. ^[11]

CryptoSlate’s detailed analysis casts the event as a case study in the risks of client monoculture for proof‑of‑stake networks like Cardano, Ethereum, and Solana, noting that the incident was triggered by software disagreement rather than an intentional protocol fork. ^[12]

Key takeaway: Cardano’s chain split didn’t destroy funds, but it did expose how a single code path bug can threaten consensus—and it has put the project’s engineering culture and client diversity back under the microscope.

Hoskinson’s Message: From FBI Calls to a “Cardano Revival”

Against this backdrop, Charles Hoskinson has gone on an intense public‑relations offensive.

FBI involvement and blame

In the immediate aftermath of the incident, Hoskinson said he had alerted the FBI and “relevant authorities” after a former stake‑pool operator admitted to broadcasting the malformed transaction. ^[13]

In a separate interview and social‑media commentary covered today, he went further, blaming institutions for the broader crypto meltdown, arguing that large players pumped and then dumped the market and “got what they wanted” when prices crashed. ^[14]

This anti‑institution narrative plays well with some in the Cardano community but may make potential institutional partners nervous at a time when other layer‑1s are actively courting big finance.

“Cardano is really healthy” and the Midnight/RealFi push

In a widely‑covered livestream late on November 25 (reported this morning), Hoskinson insisted that “overall, Cardano is really healthy,” saying the protocol side of the chain‑split incident is “largely behind” the network and that Cardano is now in “cleanup mode.” He predicted that the project will “finish pretty strong towards the end of the year.” ^[15]

Central to his revival roadmap:

Midnight – a privacy‑focused Cardano sidechain with its Glacier Drop airdrop:
- Hoskinson described the airdrop as the largest token distribution event in crypto history, citing more than 4.5 billion NIGHT claims across over 8 million addresses, though this claim hasn’t been independently verified. ^[16]
- A 450‑day redemption phase begins on December 8, during which NIGHT unlocks in four equal installments. Several centralized exchanges, including Kraken and OKX, are expected to distribute tokens to eligible KYC’d users, potentially exposing “tens of millions” of users to the Cardano ecosystem indirectly. ^[17]
RealFi and DeFi reboot – Hoskinson points to an upcoming RealFi initiative and a renewed DeFi push as major catalysts, claiming he knows how to bring “hundreds of millions if not billions” in TVL to Cardano once Midnight and associated RealFi projects are fully live. ^[18]
Scaling roadmap – he also referenced a more aggressive scaling plan to support enterprise and consumer applications, following themes laid out at Cardano Summit 2025. ^[19]

“Rebuilt Wall Street” on a blockchain

Adding to the rhetorical fireworks, a new feature on TheStreet today quotes Hoskinson saying he “makes decentralized central banks for a living” and has effectively “rebuilt Wall Street on a blockchain” through Cardano and its DeFi ambitions. ^[20]

Supporters see this as a statement of intent to make Cardano a full‑stack financial layer. Critics view it as marketing spin, especially given Cardano’s relatively modest DeFi TVL compared with chains like Ethereum and Solana.

Treasury Loan for Tier‑1 Exchange Listings: Community Defies the Founder

One of the clearest on‑chain governance stories feeding into Cardano news today is a surprise community vote backing a treasury‑funded push for global exchange listings:

CryptoNews reports that the Cardano community approved a $2 million ADA treasury loan aimed at financing listing costs for tier‑1 centralized exchanges as part of a coordinated “global listing expansion” program. ^[21]
The proposal, introduced by the Snek Foundation, is designed as a repayable loan to support “mature” Cardano‑native tokens that need capital to secure more prominent exchange placements. ^[22]
By increasing the visibility and liquidity of Cardano‑native assets, the program indirectly benefits ADA, which acts as the base currency and gas token for the network. ^[23]

Notably, this move cuts against Hoskinson’s publicly stated position: he had argued that treasury funds should not be used for meme‑coin‑driven listing campaigns and instead should be focused on core Cardano development. ^[24]

The vote therefore highlights a growing dynamic inside the ecosystem:

Cardano’s governance is starting to flex its independence from the founder, a sign of maturity that could be bullish in the long run but may also introduce more public disagreements in the near term.

Bull vs. Bear: Will ADA Crash to $0.34 or Aim for a New All‑Time High?

Today’s Cardano headlines capture a market split almost as sharp as last week’s chain split.

Bearish case: $0.34 and “ghost chain” worries

Watcher.Guru warns that Cardano may be on its way to $0.34 if the current crypto sell‑off deepens, citing the broader market crash and ADA’s correlation with macro risk sentiment. ^[25]
CoinCentral’s deep‑dive points out that Cardano’s TVL has collapsed 36% over the last month, that stablecoin liquidity is thin, and that some high‑profile analysts are calling ADA a “ghost chain” due to relatively low DeFi and NFT activity compared to competitors. ^[26]
Changelly’s November forecast is relatively cautious, expecting a trading range between about $0.412 and $0.418 this month with an average around $0.415 and only a 2% potential return in its base scenario. ^[27]

Taken together, the bear case argues that:

Cardano is losing mindshare to newer chains.
The chain split exposed technical and governance weaknesses.
Without a sustained influx of real DeFi, stablecoin, or real‑world‑asset usage, ADA could bleed lower, especially if macro conditions worsen.

Bullish case: bottoming structure and ATH talk

On the other side, several analyses published in the last 24 hours are strikingly optimistic:

CryptoNews notes that ADA’s chart may be forming a year‑long symmetrical triangle, with RSI moving out of oversold territory and MACD approaching a bullish crossover. In a strong breakout scenario, it sketches a potential retest of late‑2024 highs around $1.35 and, in an extended rally, a move toward previous cycle highs around $3.00—roughly a 620% gain from current prices. ^[28]
A widely shared ZyCrypto headline argues that Cardano is “primed to test a new all‑time high” after completing a “crucial ADA price bottom,” pointing to long‑term structural patterns that could mirror earlier bull markets if sentiment turns. ^[29]
CoinCentral’s technical section also highlights a falling wedge pattern on ADA’s daily chart, with oversold momentum and potential upside toward $0.49–$0.50 if resistance levels break, albeit with downside risk toward the August 2023 lows near $0.28 if support fails. ^[30]

From a fundamental/long‑term perspective, InvestingHaven argues it is not too late to buy Cardano if investors treat it as a long‑horizon position, size their exposure carefully, and use staking to earn yield—while explicitly warning against chasing quick gains or investing money they can’t afford to lose. ^[31]

As always, these scenarios are speculative. Price predictions are not guarantees, and crypto remains one of the highest‑risk asset classes.

Ecosystem Reality Check: TVL, Summit 2025 and Everyday Usage

Beyond price, today’s coverage revisits questions about Cardano’s real‑world traction.

TVL and DeFi gaps

Cardano’s TVL of roughly $186 million leaves it far behind leading DeFi ecosystems and even some newer entrants, and the 36% monthly TVL drop has revived long‑standing concerns about whether developers and users are truly committing to the platform. ^[32]
Cardano has modest stablecoin liquidity (under $40 million) and little presence in gaming or real‑world‑asset verticals, according to the same analysis—areas where competitors like Solana and various app‑chains are expanding quickly. ^[33]

Summit 2025 and the “Cardano Card”

Yet there are green shoots:

Cardano Summit 2025, held earlier this month in Berlin, focused heavily on enterprise adoption, regulatory engagement and developer tools, underlining Cardano’s long‑time positioning as a research‑driven, compliance‑friendly blockchain. ^[34]
A widely shared Motley Fool article recapping the summit highlighted the arrival of a “Cardano Card” product that will allow users to spend ADA alongside other cryptocurrencies and stablecoins, moving Cardano a step closer to everyday payments use cases. ^[35]

Cardano’s official materials continue to describe the project as a proof‑of‑stake platform for “changemakers, innovators and visionaries,” emphasizing its peer‑reviewed design, Ouroboros consensus, and multi‑era roadmap (with the final Voltaire era bringing full on‑chain governance and treasury management). ^[36]

The tension, as today’s stories make clear, is between that ambitious vision and the much smaller on‑chain footprintCardano currently has compared to its marketing and age as a top‑10 project.

What ADA Holders Should Watch Next

For Cardano investors, builders and observers, the most important near‑term checkpoints emerging from today’s news cycle are:

Network stability post‑hotfix
- How quickly stake pools, exchanges and wallets adopt the patched node versions.
- Whether any further issues or edge cases appear as the ecosystem converges on a single canonical chain. ^[37]
Midnight’s December 8 milestone
- The start of the 450‑day NIGHT redemption period and the token’s trading debut, especially given Hoskinson’s claim of unprecedented distribution scale.
- How much TVL and developer activity Midnight actually draws, and whether that flows back into ADA demand and transaction fees. ^[38]
Impact of the $2M treasury loan program
- Which Cardano‑native projects secure tier‑1 exchange listings using treasury‑backed funds.
- Whether this materially boosts liquidity for those tokens—and ADA by extension—or is perceived mainly as a meme‑coin subsidy. ^[39]
DeFi and TVL trend
- Does Cardano’s TVL stabilize or continue to slide through December?
- Are new stablecoin or real‑world‑asset protocols actually launching, or are other chains absorbing the current wave of experimentation? ^[40]
Macro and market structure
- The broader crypto market is still digesting a sharp correction, with some analysts warning of further downside across risk assets. If Bitcoin and large caps remain under pressure, ADA may struggle to decouple regardless of its internal developments. ^[41]

Bottom Line

As of November 26, 2025, Cardano sits at a crossroads:

Price: ADA hovers around $0.41–$0.42, near yearly lows but technically oversold.
Security: A high‑profile chain split rattled confidence but ultimately saw no loss of funds and prompted a rapid coordinated fix.
Narrative: Hoskinson is pitching a “revival” anchored in Midnight, RealFi and scaling, while parts of the community and external analysts remain skeptical, pointing to weak DeFi metrics and the risk of another leg down toward $0.34.
Governance: A $2M treasury loan for exchange listings shows that Cardano’s community is increasingly willing to chart its own course, even when it clashes with the founder’s views.

For traders and long‑term holders alike, Cardano remains a high‑risk, high‑conviction bet that hinges on whether its ambitious roadmap can finally translate into sustained real‑world usage.

Nothing in this article is financial advice. Crypto assets are highly volatile, and you should do your own research and only invest what you can afford to lose.