Cardano Under $1: Your Last Chance to Buy?
Key Points
Cardano's leaders want to develop its DeFi ecosystem, which is well behind its top competitors.
You can buy Cardano for well under $1 right now, as its price has plummeted since 2021.
The low price comes amid years of underperformance, so investors should take a cautious approach.
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Cardano (CRYPTO: ADA) could be in store for an exciting 2026, if founder Charles Hoskinson's plans come to fruition. He's aiming to build Cardano's decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem. The cryptocurrency's leaders have proposed allocating 70 million ADA coins for a strategic integration fund to invest in blockchain bridges, stablecoins, and crypto wallet upgrades.
DeFi is an area where Cardano has lagged behind the competition. Rivals Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) and Solana (CRYPTO: SOL) have $69 billion and $9 billion, respectively, of total value locked (TVL) into DeFi protocols. Cardano has just $178 million.
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Cardano's price is currently well under $1 at about $0.37 (as of Dec. 22). Even though this cryptocurrency is cheap right now, that doesn't necessarily mean we're looking at a buying opportunity.
Cardano has failed to capture much interest
Cardano has an ambitious roadmap and some interesting projects underway. In addition to its DeFi push, Cardano also recently launched Midnight, a partner chain with privacy-enhancing features. But other blockchain networks have been much more successful in gaining investor support.
The results during the past few years have been bleak for Cardano investors. Since peaking at $3.10 in 2021, the cryptocurrency has lost 88% of its value, and it hasn't come close to that high mark. While other coins have also gone through extended downturns, many of the big names (including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana) have set new all-time highs in 2025.
Activity levels are also much lower on Cardano. It often has fewer than 20,000 daily active users, according to data from Artemis Analytics. Ethereum regularly has more than 500,000, and Solana frequently has more than 3 million.
Considering Cardano's poor performance recently, it's hard to be certain that 2026 is when it turns things around. This isn't your last chance to buy Cardano, and you may want to wait and see if its plans produce legitimate results before you invest.
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Lyle Daly has positions in Bitcoin, Cardano, Ethereum, and Solana. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
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