Data Shows 23% of Cardano Holders Have Not Sold a Single ADA in Five Years

On-chain data reveals that Cardano has a robust investor community, with a significant size of holdings unmoved in five years. 

The cryptocurrency industry is rife with investors and traders chasing the latest shiny thing and seeking opportunities to grow their investments on a whim. However, some investors believe in high conviction and long-term plays, as evidenced by recent on-chain data on the Cardano blockchain network. 

According to IntoTheBlock data, around 23% of Cardano holders have held the cryptocurrency for at least five years. During this period, the price of ADA went from $0.04 to nearly $3 and has since declined to around $0.53, where it is trading at the time of writing.

23% of Cardano holders have held their $ADA for more than 5 years? pic.twitter.com/cOn7uFo16P

— IntoTheBlock (@intotheblock) February 8, 2024

The strong willingness to keep hold of their ADA coins through the ups and downs suggests that investors controlling these positions expect prices to go higher. 

However, some commentators have argued that a portion of the holdings may also be attributed to lost cryptocurrency private keys, as well as the amount of ADA held by the Cardano Foundation, which oversees the development of the network. 

Cardano Attracts Investors During the Bear Market

Another key takeaway from the recent on-chain metrics is that Cardano potentially onboarded a new class of investors during the recent bear market. 

The data reveals that 16% of ADA holders have not sold their assets since acquiring them within the past 18-24 months. Investors in this class hold around 5.1 billion coins, and remain unmoved by the surge in ADA price throughout 2023.

It is noteworthy that the reported HODL culture among Cardano investors is also buoyed by the availability of native ADA staking on the network. Users can earn around 6-8% per annum through ADA staking and may choose to accumulate their rewards before they can sell them for much higher in a bull market. 

Meanwhile, the advent of decentralized finance (DeFi) applications on Cardano also creates more utility for ADA and provides additional avenues for users to maximize their investments. At the time of writing, Cardano is trading at $0.53, recording a 10% gain in the past 24 hours.