According to U.Today, Cardano, the 10th largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, has reached a significant milestone unrelated to ADA's price. The percentage of ADA held by long-term holders has hit an all-time high, accounting for nearly 40% of the total supply. Data from IntoTheBlock reveals that 72% of ADA holders are classified as hodlers, having held their ADA for over a year. Twenty-five percent are cruisers, with a holding period between one and twelve months, and 3% are traders who have held their ADA for less than one month. Hodlers are long-term investors, cruisers are mid-term or swing traders, and traders are short-term speculators.

Increasing new use cases across the Cardano blockchain likely contributed to the sustained growth of hodlers, as these long-term addresses may want to keep their holdings to benefit from these applications. The high percentage of long-term holders is a positive indicator for Cardano, suggesting that the community has strong faith in the project's future. A recent analysis by IntoTheBlock indicates that Cardano settles around $7.2 billion daily in on-chain volume, outperforming several other networks. This results in an exceptionally low NVT ratio of just 2.62, which may indicate that ADA is undervalued. If this is the case, the significant amount of long-term holders might suggest that ADA holders are willing to wait for its potential to be fully realized.

Expectations are high for the Chang #1 hard fork, which will introduce governance to Cardano. According to an Aug. 12 update shared by Intersect, significant progress has been made by stake pool operators, with 67% of SPOs having upgraded to v9.1.0. The hard fork threshold for SPOs is now closer to being reached. Many crypto exchanges have also confirmed development work is well underway, with the first few signaling readiness.