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Chain Rating · Scorecard v1.0

Cardano

Blockchain · ADA · $0.05B DeFi TVL. Cardano is a proof-of-stake smart-contract chain with broad stake distribution and on-chain governance, but under 0.1% of all-chain TVL.

Data As Of November 12, 2026 Methodology Chains v1.0 (provisional) Revenue To Coin Staker payout + treasury · None
SolvencyCREDIT GRADE
BBB
61.5 / 100
Can the network keep paying for its own security?
Legitimacy
A
73 / 100
Is it what it says it is, and who controls it?
GrowthOUTLOOK
CCC
22.5 / 100
Is usage growing, measured by value and fees?
How Revenue Reaches The Coin

Does Cardano's Revenue Help ADA Holders?

Mechanism
Staker payout + treasury
Pass-through today
None
  • Fees are pooled with reserve releases; 20% goes to the on-chain treasury and the rest to stakers.
  • Fee revenue was under $1M in the last 12 months, against well over $100M released from the reserve.
  • No burn.

What it means for a holder. Fee revenue is too small to matter for the coin. Staking rewards and treasury spending come from the remaining reserve, which adds to circulating supply.

Descriptive, not scored separately: the fee-against-issuance input in Solvency already carries the economic weight. Not investment advice.

Axis I · Credit Grade

Solvency — BBB

Solvency screens at BBB (61.5 / 100). Strongest input: stake concentration. Weakest input: fee revenue against new issuance.

Solvency ScorecardBBB
MetricRawNormalizedWeightWeighted
Fee revenue against new issuance0.01x
25%2.5
Chain fees of about $0.9M over the last 12 months against roughly 745M ADA released from the reserve a year (about $127M).
Stake concentration9 / 10
25%22.5
About 3,000 active stake pools with roughly 63% of supply staked.
Supply pressure, next 12 months4%
15%12.8
Capped at 45B ADA. About 366M ADA reached the float in 90 days from reserve releases and treasury spending, roughly 4% a year.
DeFi value stability (worst 90-day drawdown)34%
15%9.8
Liveness and incident history7 / 10
20%14
A malformed transaction caused a temporary chain split on November 21, 2025, resolved the same day.
FINAL DIMENSION SCORE61.5 → BBB
Axis II · Legitimacy

Legitimacy — A

Legitimacy screens at A (73 / 100). Strongest input: team and foundation transparency. Weakest input: client diversity and audits.

Legitimacy ScorecardA
MetricRawNormalizedWeightWeighted
Client diversity and audits5 / 10
20%10
One dominant node implementation; a second, Rust-based node is funded and in development.
Team and foundation transparency9 / 10
20%18
Delivery against roadmap6 / 10
20%12
On-chain governance shipped; scaling work has been slow against earlier roadmaps.
Governance of upgrades9 / 10
25%22.5
On-chain governance with elected representatives and a constitutional committee controls the treasury and upgrades.
Supply distribution7 / 10
15%10.5
Founding entities hold meaningful balances; the treasury is on-chain and voted.
FINAL DIMENSION SCORE73 → A
Axis III · Growth Outlook

Growth — CCC

Growth screens at CCC (22.5 / 100). Strongest input: users and developers. Weakest input: defi tvl, 12-month trend.

Growth ScorecardCCC
MetricRawNormalizedWeightWeighted
DeFi TVL, 12-month trend-81%
25%2.5
Share of all-chain TVL0.06%
20%4
Fee revenue, 12-month trend-81%
20%2
Users and developers4 / 10
35%14
DeFi TVL of about $50M and falling.
FINAL DIMENSION SCORE22.5 → CCC
Verdict

Where Cardano Lands

Weakest axis: Growth, CCC. Decentralization and governance are strengths. The weakness is economic: almost nothing is earned in fees, so security and development are funded from the reserve and treasury.

Credit Grade — Solvency
BBB
61.5 / 100

The credit grade answers one question: can the network keep funding its security and stay live. Legitimacy and Growth are published beside it and are never averaged into it.

Analyst Note
Well-distributed stake and working on-chain governance, on a network with very little fee-paying activity.
Chains scorecard v1.0, provisional. Base networks are graded on the same three axes and AAA-to-D scale as DeFi protocols, with inputs suited to a chain. Fee, TVL and share figures come from DefiLlama as of November 12, 2026; the 0–10 inputs are analyst estimates from public sources and judgment. Growth leans on DeFi TVL and fee revenue, which understates chains used mainly for payments. Every input should be verified before being relied upon.
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ChainSolvencyLegitimacyGrowth
EthereumBBBAABB
SolanaBBBBBB
TRONBBBBBBB
AvalancheBBBBBCCC
SuiBBBCCC
NEAR ProtocolBBBBBBB
HederaBBBCCC
TONBBBBB

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