Cardano whales hold record 67% of circulating ADA

On-chain analytics firm Santiment reported that wallets holding at least 1 million Cardano (ADA) now control 25.09 billion ADA, equal to 67.47% of the circulating supply. That is the largest share held by that cohort since July 2020.

Santiment’s data show those large addresses added roughly 410 million ADA since the start of 2026 and have been increasing their share of existing supply since December 2023.

Cardano’s price has fallen more than 20% so far in 2026 and traded around $0.267 at the time of reporting. Santiment noted the million-ADA cohort raised positions even as the token lost about 71% of its market capitalization over the prior nine months.

Smaller wallets moved in the opposite direction. Addresses holding 100 to 1,000 ADA shed about 76.22 million tokens, a 15.6% decline, while wallets holding 1,000 to 10,000 ADA released roughly 320 million ADA, a 14.4% drop. Those flows reduced balances in smaller retail addresses and increased the share held by very large holders.

Santiment warned that concentrated ownership can make ADA more sensitive to the actions of a few large holders. The firm noted large addresses often operate on longer time horizons, and it also flagged the potential for outsized price moves if those wallets redistribute tokens when market prices rise.