• Cardano (ADA) rallied 25% over the last seven days due to a spike in whale accumulation.

  • Cardano and crypto communities welcomed the unexpected increase but raised concerns about FUD due to whale activity.

Cardano (ADA) underwent an unexpected surge over the last week as the altcoin rose by 21.63%, drawing the spotlight as 2023 kicks off.

I can't believe #ADA fam beat #Ethereum.That is quite something. But it makes sense when you realize #Cardano is in fact decentralized, unlike #ETH.For some reason @Cointelegraph assumed ETH would beat ADA and #Doge looking at how they ranked the coins. pic.twitter.com/eD0RH3Y2py

— Duo Nine | discord.gg/ycc (@DU09BTC) January 8, 2023

What is Behind the Price Swing?

#Cardano is enjoying a mini surge at this hour, and addresses holding between 1M to 100M $ADA may be a main validator to watch for a price breakout. After dumping 568.4M coins the final 2 months of 2022, they have added back 217.2M $ADA to start 2023. https://t.co/4aVmr641Lh pic.twitter.com/6mSVYKYfpY

— Santiment (@santimentfeed) January 6, 2023

The rally comes in the wake of whale accumulation, with 217.2 million ADA (worth approximately $723,697.92 USD) bought up since the start of 2023. This follows a downward trend of 568.4 million coins sold in the last two months of 2022.

Fiat-backed, regulatory-compliant stablecoins, known as “nonsynthetic,” are expected to arrive on Cardano’s network later in January. They could help bolster Cardano’s DeFi ecosystem.

The reported accumulation of Cardano has been attributed to a predicted upsurge in cryptocurrency adoption in 2023. By increasing their ADA holdings, traders may be looking to hedge against inflation and capitalize on increased trading volumes and new address holders entering the market.

Altcoins have been on an uptrend against the expectations of the bear market. The recovery might give crypto communities hope of carrying over losses from 2022. Cardano is among the leaders, trading for $0.3298 at the time of writing. Market players are expected to increase their holdings.

Slow and Steady Wins the Race

Cardano is now heading into the Voltaire phase after the successful launch of the Vasil upgrade on Thursday, September 22nd, 2022, a reported display of the efficacy of Cardano’s methodical approach.

The altcoin holds the eighth position on CoinMarketCap and is considered one of the most prominent crypto networks in the world due to its scientific significance for building future cryptos;  its third-generation consensus algorithm Ouroboros.

On the Flipside

  • The price spike may serve as a caution to those looking to speculate quickly on Cardano’s price movements in the short term. 

  • Whale activity could cause drastic price changes as it has done historically across the sector. 

Why You Should Care

Cardano is amongst the most important crypto networks in the world. It plays a major role in building the future shape of crypto.

Read more about how ADA overtook ETH with development activity in 2022: Cardano (ADA) Overtakes Ethereum (ETH) as Protocol with Most Development Activity in 2022

For a deeper insight into how Cardano works: What Is Cardano, and How Does It Work?