Cardano News Update: Solana's ETF Progress Poses a Threat to Cardano's Market Standing

Cardano (ADA) has seen its price fall by 20% in recent sessions, as traders react to the emergence of a "death cross" chart pattern and ongoing challenges in the crypto ETF sector. The death cross, which occurs when a short-term moving average dips below a long-term one, is widely viewed as a bearish signal that can indicate extended periods of price weakness. At the same time, delays in the approval of single-asset crypto ETFs and the increasing momentum of rivals such as

(SOL) have added to the uncertainty surrounding Cardano’s standing in the market, prompting a response from .

This decline has occurred even as the

blockchain has undergone recent upgrades designed to improve its functionality. In late October, Cardano’s founder Charles Hoskinson commended the adoption of x402—a payment protocol created by —within the network. The allows users to make online payments through an API, eliminating the need for logins, email addresses, or complicated authentication. Patrick Tobbler, co-founder of Masumi, a decentralized protocol built on Cardano, noted that this integration could help Cardano serve as a “financial backbone” for the AI agent economy by enabling automated and verifiable transactions. A demonstration of x402 on Cardano’s testnet showed how tokens could be minted using a web-based payment process, though Tobbler clarified that this was a technical demonstration rather than an investment opportunity.

The adoption of x402 fits into Cardano’s broader strategy to expand its infrastructure. Input Output, the company behind Cardano, revealed in September that its Ouroboros Leios consensus protocol is moving from the research phase to active development. Leios is intended to greatly increase the network’s scalability and transaction capacity, addressing persistent concerns about Cardano’s processing speeds. Despite these advancements, investor worries about ETF-related obstacles remain.

The U.S. ETF market has become a key arena for cryptocurrency adoption. Grayscale’s CoinDesk Crypto 5 ETF (GDLC), which features ADA, began trading on the NYSE in October. However, this fund includes multiple assets such as

, , Solana, , and Cardano, differing from the rising trend of single-asset crypto ETFs, especially those focused on Solana. Major asset managers like Bitwise and Grayscale have recently received regulatory approval to launch Solana-specific ETFs, with scheduled to launch on October 31. The SEC’s new generic listing rules for spot commodity ETFs have made it easier for these funds to come to market, increasing competition for Cardano.

Growing institutional interest in Solana highlights the competitive pressure. Reliance Global Group has recently added Solana to its digital asset portfolio, joining its holdings in Bitcoin, Ethereum, and XRP (Reliance Global Group added Solana). This move is part of a wider trend of institutions adopting high-performance blockchains, with Solana’s speed and low transaction costs making it especially attractive. In addition, Binance’s support for an x402-compatible token list in its wallet has broadened access to projects that enable micropayments, indirectly strengthening Solana’s ecosystem.

Market analysts believe the ETF landscape could significantly alter competitive dynamics. With several Solana ETFs about to launch at the end of October, Solana’s exposure to institutional investors may surpass Cardano’s, despite Cardano’s recent technical improvements. “The ETF competition is heating up, and Cardano’s presence in a multi-asset fund might not be enough to generate the same level of excitement among retail and institutional investors,” one industry expert told Crypto.news in an article about the

.