Messari’s Q2 2025 Report Shows 13% Drop in Cardano’s Market Cap, 45% Fall in Network Fees

According to the latest State of Cardano report released by Messari, this was a mixed quarter of the blockchain. The native token of Cardano, the ADA, dropped its market capitalization by 13 percent quarter-to-quarter to 21billion and transaction fees dropped by 45 percent, showing that the network was not as busy as it was in the prior quarter. The data, which was gathered by Messari and Artemis, covers the conditions until June 30, 2025.

📘 Messari has just released its Q2 2025 report on Cardano, highlighting major developments in governance, infrastructure, and the broader ecosystem including DeFi, NFTs, and stablecoins. A must-read for the #Cardano community! https://t.co/Q0AnFIHvOD
#Messari #Blockchain #Web3 … pic.twitter.com/jE8c8NYSIZ

— Cardano 5PC (@cardano_5pc) October 7, 2025

Decade-Long Overview Shows Cyclical Volatility

This report chart follows the progress of Cardano since 2015 to 2025, which is a ten-year period of development. The market cap of ADA reached an all-time high of almost 54 billion in the 2021 bull run and fell to bear cycles in later bear markets. The recent price stability of between 20 22 billion presents the consolidation in the context of a wider crypto market recovery wave of the year 2025.

Messari statistics reveal that network charges decreased by approximately 45 percent in Q2 2025 to Q1 2025 to about 24,000. This decline is explained by analysts by reduced DeFi and NFT transactions. Games such as Minswap, Splash and Snek.fun were recording drops in the number of users by the double digits. The stagnation implies the decreased number of interactions through smart contracts and the movement of liquidity within the decentralized applications on Cardano.

Governance Transition Alters Short-Term Activity

This quarter marked the Cardano Voltaire period when the system introduced on-chain governance (DReps). Nonetheless, the transition phase might have had a short-term effect on the network interaction because the users were adjusting to the new system of governance. Although the fee and cap have decreased, the increase in infrastructure is high.

Long-Term Vision and Ecosystem Strength

Cardano is still relying on its Ouroboros proof-of-stake system, which has a long reputation of energy efficiency and being formally verified in the research-first approach by IOHK. Although transaction volume has slowed down, the block fundamentals are still in place, with a strong community and development teams working on all of the Cardano customers can work with in Input Output Global (IOG), the Cardano Foundation and EMURGO.

By the time of reporting (October 2025), ADA will trade around 0.58, retaining the top-15 crypto ranking. The market cap value of 21 billion puts Cardano on top of the middle-range competitors and under the giants such as Ethereum and Solana. Messari recommends that a re-engagement of DeFi, stability in governance, and adoption in the real world is likely to restore the transaction volumes in the coming quarter.