Crypto Research Firm Says ‘Sell All Your Cardano (ADA)’, Here’s Why

K33 Research, a prominent entity in the cryptocurrency research sector, has released a scathing report on Cardano (ADA), sparking widespread discussion in the crypto community. The report bluntly advises investors to divest from Cardano, citing a lack of meaningful use for its native token, ADA.

Sell All ADA Now?

In a detailed examination, K33 Research asserts that the Cardano network suffers from a significant lack of practical application, which is essential for the inherent value of its native token. The report states, “A smart contract network needs meaningful use for its native token to have any value. The Cardano network, however, has no meaningful use or any credible track to get it.”

Addressing the counterargument often presented by Cardano supporters regarding the network’s daily transactions averaging around 90,000, the report argues that these do not equate to meaningful blockchain activity. The report further elaborates, “There’s nothing else going on in the Cardano Network than exchange transfers and a group of bagholders fabricating blockchain activity.”

K33 Research highlights the absence of external evidence supporting any significant activity on the Cardano network, contrasting it with other protocols where real activity is corroborated by external proofs. This lack of external validation is termed as ‘proof by contradiction’ by the research firm.

One of the most telling indicators of inactivity, according to the report, is the situation of stablecoins on the Cardano network. K33 Research points out that the absence of major stablecoins like USDT and USDC on Cardano is a clear indicator that no meaningful decentralized finance (DeFi) activities are taking place. The only stablecoins present are reportedly Cardano-collateralized and valued at 76 cents to the dollar, which it refers to as “another word for nothing.”

network stablecoin value relative to market cap

Future Outlook For Cardano

K33 Research is pessimistic about Cardano’s future, drawing parallels with other blockchain projects that started with no traction and later faded into irrelevance. The report notes that successful blockchains evolve over time, whereas “creationistic, grand idea, subsidized bootstrapping, and no real use-blockchains” eventually lose their luster. It cites examples like IOTA, NEO, and EOS to illustrate this pattern.

Despite Cardano’s current market valuation of $19 billion, K33 Research attributes this to its availability on various exchanges and its appeal to new crypto investors. The report critiques the narrative surrounding Cardano, describing it as “scientific mumbo-jumbo” that might mislead newcomers.

“Ada is a well-established coin that is tradeable ‘everywhere’, also on smaller local exchanges, making it one of the coins that are ‘pushed’ to aspiring crypto investors. Cardano also has an enticing story for newcomers, with Cardano being branded as ‘the peer-reviewed research-driven blockchain network’,” the report mentions.

However, K33 Research foresees a decline in this allure, predicting that the number of new investors attracted to Cardano will dwindle. Moreover, K33 Research casts doubt on the long-term viability of ADA, citing a lack of rally in its price compared to other strong smart contract tokens during recent market rallies.

“Ada has not rallied in line with other ‘stronger’ smart contract tokens when markets have improved,” the report states, suggesting a gradual fade from relevance rather than an abrupt disappearance.

Drawdowns since September 2021

According to K33 Research, the market doesn’t rapidly eliminate such coins but instead “bleeds them out” over time. The report concludes, “Things never happen overnight, and these processes often take years to play out fully. Still, all price signals also point to Ada gradually disappearing from the crypto map.”

At press time, ADA traded at $0.531.

Cardano price

Research Firm Reveals Its “Altcoin Trading Playbook”

A research firm has revealed an altcoin trading playbook that could serve as a guide for navigating the next cryptocurrency bull run.

K33 Research Shares Its Altcoin Trading Playbook

In a new post on X, K33 Research (formerly Arcane Research) explained that new altcoins make better trades than old ones. The firm has given a few reasons for why this is so.

“In lack of price-driving fundamentals, the narratives and liquidity matter,” explains the research organization. “And new coins generally outperform old coins.”

K33 Research has used the example of some “Ethereum killers” during the last bull market to show how the newer coins outperform the older ones. The below chart shows how the performance of these coins has been compared (note that the Y-axis, the price, is normalized concerning September 22, 2020, here).

Altcoin Ethereum Killers

From the chart, it’s apparent that Tron (TRX) and EOS (EOS), which were vouched as the Ethereum killers during the 2017/18 bull market, failed to set new all-time highs (ATHs) during the 2021 bull run.

However, the new kids on the block, like Solana (SOL) and Avalanche (AVAX), observed much better returns than the old, established altcoins during the latest bull market.

Why do old altcoins have difficulty returning to their former glory? According to K33 Research, there are a few factors behind this. First, the coins that have gone through a cycle have many holders at a loss, waiting to come into the green to exit.

These underwater investors provide additional selling pressure during rallies that new coins, where everyone is in the green during the initial rally, don’t have to face.

The old coins also have to deal with the rising circulating supply because of the token unlocks, which, due to supply-demand dynamics, can hurt the price if the demand side doesn’t catch up.

Altcoin Example

Finally, the research firm notes that old coins are also tied to narratives that have gone out of fashion. On the other hand, new coins are the narratives when they launch and, thus, appear interesting to investors.

While new altcoins certainly have a leg up to old coins regarding these factors, K33 Research notes that not all such coins make for a good investment. The firm advises investors to look for a few things to know whether a project may be worth investing in.

The first thing could be whether or not the total number of holders is rising rapidly for the altcoin. A high amount of adoption means the asset has more steam behind it for building sustainable moves. The firm also says that a low float and high fully dilated value (FDV) should be avoided.

ETH Price

At the time of writing, Ethereum is trading at around $1,600, up 3% during the past week.

Ethereum Price Chart