What to Know Cardano whale wallets holding between 100,000 and 100 million ADA have accumulated more than 25.6 billion tokens, according to Santiment. Retail investors reduced their ADA holdi
Wallets holding between 100,000 and 100 million ADA now control more than 25.6 billion tokens, marking their highest collective holdings since February 2023, according to on-chain analytics platform Santiment. The accumulation comes as smaller investors reduce their exposure, highlighting a growing divide between large holders and retail participants.
The latest on-chain data shows that wallets in the 100,000 to 100 million ADA category increased their holdings by 1.8% over the past four months. In contrast, addresses holding fewer than 100 ADA reduced their balances by 0.7% during the same period.
Moreover, the contrasting trends suggest that larger investors have absorbed a significant portion of the circulating supply released by smaller holders. While ADA remains under pressure, whale activity indicates that major investors are building positions instead of exiting the market.
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Cardano has traded near multi-year lows for an extended period, weighing heavily on investor confidence. Consequently, many retail holders appear to have reduced their exposure following months of weak price performance.
However, large investors have taken the opposite approach. According to Santiment, whale and shark wallets have expanded their holdings to levels last recorded more than three years ago. The sustained buying has strengthened their share of the circulating supply despite the broader market slowdown.
Source: Santiment
Additionally, the shift in ownership reflects growing confidence among high-value investors. Large-scale accumulation often reduces the amount of liquid supply available for trading, although it does not guarantee an immediate price recovery.
Besides the accumulation trend, the divergence between whales and retail investors has become one of the strongest on-chain signals for Cardano in recent months. As a result, market participants are closely monitoring whether the buying pressure eventually translates into stronger price performance.
Cardano’s technical development has also remained active despite the subdued market environment. Developers recently launched the Musashi Dojo testnet as part of the Leios scaling initiative. The project aims to improve transaction throughput and enhance network performance through more efficient block processing.
Additionally, work on the Hydra scaling solution and the Mithril protocol remains underway. The ecosystem has also expanded through the integration of Pyth Network oracles and additional funding initiatives supporting developers building on Cardano.
Moreover, these upgrades demonstrate that network development has progressed even while market sentiment remains cautious. Infrastructure improvements could strengthen the blockchain’s long-term utility by supporting higher transaction capacity and broader decentralized application growth.
Although technical upgrades do not directly influence short-term prices, they often strengthen the network’s fundamentals over time. Consequently, the combination of ecosystem development and sustained whale accumulation has attracted attention across the Cardano community.
Santiment’s latest data shows that Cardano’s largest holders have accumulated more than 25.6 billion ADA while retail investors have reduced their positions. At the same time, the network’s scaling roadmap continues to advance through Leios, Hydra, Mithril, and ecosystem integrations. Together, these trends reflect growing long-term positioning by major investors despite the cryptocurrency’s prolonged price weakness.
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