Cardano faced a sharp decline in spot flows within a few hours on Friday as the broader crypto market remained in negative territory. Most major cryptocurrencies from the top 100 traded lower, with losses ranging from 1% to 11% during the day.
Cardano’s spot flows see sharp decline
ADA, the native token of Cardano, dropped 4.60% over the past 24 hours to $0.166. The decrease came amid strong selling pressure, with traders reacting to continued weakness across digital assets.
Spot flow, a key metric that tracks capital moving in and out of cryptocurrency exchanges, saw a drastic swing. According to data from CoinGlass, Cardano’s spot flows fell by 1,917.11% in just four hours. Inflows during this period reached $1.19 million, while outflows totaled $1.49 million, leaving Cardano with a negative net flow of $303,100.
A negative net flow in spot markets generally reflects more assets being withdrawn from trading platforms than deposited, which can indicate increased accumulation by holders and a temporary rise in buying activity despite overall price declines.
Mini dictionary: CoinGlass is a data analytics platform widely used by cryptocurrency traders for on-chain metrics, derivatives, and spot flow analysis.
| Metric | Value (4-hour window) |
|---|---|
| Inflows | $1.19 million |
| Outflows | $1.49 million |
| Net Flow | -$303,100 |
| Change in Spot Flows | -1,917.11% |
Cardano’s spot flows dropped by 1,917.11% in four hours with outflows surpassing inflows by $303,100, suggesting investors pulled more funds from exchanges than they deposited.
Cardano’s recent hard fork activity
Cardano, a public blockchain platform focused on scalability and research-driven development, recently completed the van Rossem hard fork. This upgrade, enacted at epoch boundary 644 on July 18, 2026, marked a first for Cardano as it was voted on by all three governance entities: Delegated Representatives (DReps), Stake Pool Operators (SPOs), and the Constitutional Committee (CC).
The upgrade was carried out by the Intersect hard fork working group, an organization dedicated to coordinating key changes within the Cardano ecosystem. The successful execution of the van Rossem hard fork transitioned Cardano into its official “full governance era,” accelerating plans for further upgrades.
Preparations are already underway for the Dijkstra era hard fork, which intends to bring Ouroboros Leios to the network.
Mini dictionary: Ouroboros Leios is a protocol upgrade aimed at improving network efficiency, consensus security, and scalability in the Cardano blockchain.
Post-upgrade network performance
Shortly after the van Rossem hard fork, Intersect reported a nearly 10-minute delay before the network produced its first block. While initially notable, this lag proved transient. Both Site Reliability Engineering and core engineering teams continue to monitor for irregularities as the network stabilizes.
As the blockchain entered the new epoch, block creation normalized. The first block appeared just under 15 seconds into the new epoch, aligning well within the typical target of a 20-second average block interval. No technical issues were observed and network operations remained stable through the transition.
Block production following the van Rossem hard fork resumed within standard parameters despite a brief initial delay, according to updates from Intersect.
