Cardano ADA Token Price Rises as Hard Fork Hits Testnet

The upgrade onto the blockchain platform’s mainnet is still on track for Sept. 12

article-image
share

key takeaways

  • Cardano’s ADA token price, which is currently up about 124% from 30 days ago, went above $3 following the testnet hard fork
  • About 140 exchanges have switched to a live production environment to prepare for Cardano’s mainnet upgrade

The price of Cardano’s ADA token shot up following the hard fork of the blockchain platform’s testnet on Wednesday.

ADA hit $3.09 Wednesday morning and was at $2.94 as of Noon eastern time, according to CoinGecko data — up about 4% in the last day and 124% from 30 days ago. The coin is the third-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization at about $94 billion, behind only bitcoin and Ether, and ahead of Binance Coin.

Cardano’s Alonzo hard fork will bring its smart contract capability Plutus to the network and provides the foundation for more decentralized applications to be built on the platform. 

The upgrade onto the company’s mainnet is still on track for Sept. 12, according to a tweet by Input Output, the blockchain infrastructure research and engineering company behind Cardano.

The blockchain platform launched a public testnet in early-August to allow 500 community members to work with smart contracts on the network before the upgrade, Nigel Hemsley, Cardano’s head of delivery, previously said. The hard fork on the testnet occurred Wednesday.

“We’ll be running our own tests and inviting others to test as well, with the main goal being to test for stability, security testing that the foundational code to write smart contracts is working properly and all the other miscellaneous things that need to be done to ensure that we can confidently hard for to the mainnet,” Cardano stated in a Sept. 1 YouTube video.

With the testnet hardfork, about 140 exchanges switched to a live production environment to prepare for the mainnet launch, the video notes.

David Tawil, president of ProChain Capital, previously told Blockworks that this hard fork was “critical” for Cardano. He added that if there is a major uptick in adoption, investors would be justified to give Cardano a valuation that is similar or equal to Ethereum as the functionality will be the same or better.

Cardano saw inflows of $10.1 million last week, according to a CoinShares report. It was the largest total on record for Cardano, bringing its market share to 0.15%.

Meanwhile bitcoin had outflows for the eighth consecutive week, according to the report. Altcoins, including Ethereum, now represent 32% of total crypto assets under management, CoinShares data shows, which is close to the record of 35% set in mid-May.

Want more investor-focused content on digital assets? Join us September 13th and 14th for the Digital Asset Summit (DAS) in NYC. Use code ARTICLE for $75 off your ticket. Buy it now.

Tags

Upcoming Events

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

Industry City | Brooklyn, NY

TUES - THURS, JUNE 24 - 26, 2025

Permissionless IV serves as the definitive gathering for crypto’s technical founders, developers, and builders to come together and create the future.If you’re ready to shape the future of crypto, Permissionless IV is where it happens.

Brooklyn, NY

SUN - MON, JUN. 22 - 23, 2025

Blockworks and Cracked Labs are teaming up for the third installment of the Permissionless Hackathon, happening June 22–23, 2025 in Brooklyn, NY. This is a 36-hour IRL builder sprint where developers, designers, and creatives ship real projects solving real problems across […]

recent research

Research Report Templates (1).jpg

Research

Jupiter has emerged as the undisputed liquidity backbone of Solana, commanding over 90% of spot DEX aggregation and 80% of perp trading volume. But behind the numbers lies a far more ambitious play: a cross-chain, vertically integrated super-app spanning swaps, synthetics, NFTs, memecoins, and launchpads. This report explores Jupiter’s rapid rise, the monetization upgrades reshaping its revenue profile, and the risks that could unwind its dominance, from token dilution to competition. With annualized revenues nearing $300M, the upside is undeniable, if it can navigate the turbulence.

article-image

Curve founder Michael Egorov is working on a new protocol designed to eliminate impermanent loss, rethink token emissions, and capture BTC-native yield

article-image

Mining outfits have gone bust in the wake of prior halvings. Not so this time around.

article-image

Zora’s announcement that its token is for “fun only” sparked a debate about the need for such tokens

article-image

In recent weeks, Helium has hit new all-time highs while passing major protocol milestones

article-image

Financial advisers in a January survey said equity ETFs were their top choice for gaining crypto exposure in 2025

article-image

“Why put a target out there that’s really speculative, not knowing exactly where this environment is going to go?” CarMax CEO Bill Nash said