Cardano's 2026 DeFi Revival Hinges on Execution, Not Hype: Analyst

A prominent community figure, Amaryllis, suggests that Cardano’s next growth phase will depend less on hype and more on execution.

Recent developments, including the upcoming launch of Midnight, have reignited optimism within the Cardano community. Amaryllis maintains that successful delivery will ultimately determine the network’s long-term trajectory.

• Cardano community figure Amaryllis believes execution, not hype, will define the network’s next growth phase.
• Cardano’s total value locked (TVL) has dropped from over $700 million to $124 million.
• Although recent network upgrades sparked short-term activity, they failed to sustain long-term momentum.
• Optimism has resurfaced around potential Tier-1 stablecoin integration and the upcoming launch of Midnight.

According to DeFiLlama data, Cardano recorded its strongest DeFi expansion between late 2024 and early 2025. During that period, the network’s total value locked (TVL) surpassed $700 million, while on-chain activity and trading volumes surged.

Amaryllis attributes the growth to the rollout of governance mechanisms and rising momentum around real-world asset (RWA) tokenization. However, by mid-to-late 2025, the network’s DeFi activity waned. TVL has since declined to $124 million.

While network upgrades continued to trigger short-term spikes in activity, Amaryllis stressed that the network’s DeFi activity struggled to sustain long-term acceleration.

Meanwhile, IOG founder Charles Hoskinson’s latest strategic push around DeFi aligns closely with Cardano’s 2026 roadmap. The blueprint prioritizes privacy through Midnight, stablecoin expansion, institutional-grade partnerships, and scaling across DeFi and RWA sectors.

For context, Cardano’s 2026 roadmap outlines plans to introduce a Tier-1 stablecoin this year to strengthen its DeFi ecosystem. The community remains divided over the likely candidate, with some favoring USDT due to its relative ease of integration. Amid this debate, Hoskinson revealed that Circle’s privacy stablecoin, USDCx, will launch on Cardano later this month.

In addition, Hoskinson recently confirmed that Midnight will launch as a partner chain on Cardano’s mainnet next month. Midnight’s upcoming launch will integrate the network’s privacy features with Cardano’s smart contract infrastructure.

He also stated that existing partners such as Google and Telegram will support the network’s operations, with more partnerships expected over time.

Although traders have reacted positively in the short term, boosting sentiment, analysts emphasized that Cardano’s long-term success will depend on the execution of these proposals and the ability to build sticky liquidity that keeps users engaged.