Cardano Retail Investors Hold 91% of ADA Supply, Much More Than Whales

Cardano Investors and Retail wallets collectively hold over 91% of the ADA circulating supply, much larger than the proportion held by Whale addresses.

This is according to on-chain data sourced by blockchain analytics resource IntoTheBlock. Notably, the platform’s Historical Concentration metric divides Cardano holders into three tiers of addresses. These tiers are Whales, Retail and Investors.

Whales refer to addresses holding more than 1% of Cardano’s circulating supply, or at least 359 million ADA. Investors are addresses that hold between 0.1% (35.9 million ADA) and 1% (359 million ADA) of the supply. Meanwhile, Retail addresses hold less than 0.1% of the circulating supply.

Retail Investors Hold 91% of Cardano Supply

Data confirms that currently, Whales collectively hold only 3 billion ADA, representing a mere 8.47% of Cardano’s supply. However, Investors hold over 2x this figure, amounting to 7.06 billion ADA, about 19.89% of the supply. 

Interestingly, Retail wallets hold a whopping 25.41 billion Cardano tokens. This figure represents a massive 71.64% of ADA’s circulating supply. While whales hold 8.47% of the supply, the combined holdings of the Retail wallets and Investors amount to 91.53% of the circulating supply, translating to 32.47 billion ADA.

This metric suggests that Cardano is more decentralized, with a larger number of smaller investors holding a significant portion of the supply. This can lead to a more stable ecosystem, as it reduces the risk of market manipulation by a few large holders (whales).

Notably, this is in stark contrast to the holdings distribution among Ethereum addresses. While Cardano Whales only hold 8.47% of supply, Ethereum Whales possess a massive 42.3% of ETH’s circulating supply. However, Retail addresses hold 48.9% of the ETH supply, comparatively lower than Cardano’s 71.64%.

Long-Term ADA Holders Increase

In addition, historical data shows that Cardano’s Investors and Retail wallets have continued to increase their holdings over the past 3 months, while Whales have distributed. Since April 30, Retail wallets and Investors have accumulated over 400 million ADA. In contrast, whales have distributed 30 million tokens within this period.

Meanwhile, further data confirms that long-term Cardano holders have increased since April 30. For context, Hodlers, those holding ADA for over a year, have risen by 160,000 since April 30 to the current 3.19 million. However, Cruisers (holding between 1 and 12 months) and Traders (less than 1 month) have dropped by 194,000 addresses.