Cardano news today is dominated by a one-two punch that has left the ADA community digesting mixed signals: the abrupt sunset of the Cardano Visa card and a simultaneous price slide, even as on-chain activity hit a historic milestone. Here is what happened over the last 24 to 48 hours and why it matters.
The headline development broke on October 13, 2026, when the official Cardano Card X account confirmed that
the Cardano Card, the Visa card linked to the ADA ecosystem, will cease operations on October 31, 2026. The service allows users to make payments with more than 685 cryptocurrencies, including ADA, Bitcoin, Ethereum, and XRP.
The reason behind the shutdown is a strategic pivot by the card’s infrastructure partner.
The decision follows a change in business direction by Wirex, the partner behind the Cardano Card program. Wirex will shut down its existing custodial infrastructure and move to a non-custodial model, meaning its partnership with the Cardano Card program will end on October 31, 2026.
Crucially,
the service wind-down is directly tied to Wirex’s infrastructure changes rather than operational issues with the card product itself.
For everyday ADA holders who relied on the card to spend crypto, the window is now tight.
Cardholders can continue using their cards through October 31, 2026.
What comes after that remains an open question.
It has not been confirmed whether Cardano Card will introduce a replacement card, partner with another provider, or offer an alternative way to continue making cryptocurrency payments after the shutdown.
The card news arrived at a moment when ADA was already under selling pressure.
ADA’s price fell to $0.239, down 6.08% in 24 hours, breaking below the $0.24 support level — a decline that occurred despite Cardano’s Epoch 660 setting an all-time high of 1.78 million transactions.
That figure surpasses the previous record of 1,566,974 transactions set in Epoch 304. The epoch also generated ₳337.72K in transaction fees, with each block containing an average of 83.83 transactions.
The disconnect between surging network usage and falling price points to a specific culprit.
Daily active addresses fell 41.36%, from 27,248 to 15,977, coinciding with the distribution of more than 110 million ADA by large holders.
In other words, whales were selling into the record transaction volume, not buying it.
Separate from the card shutdown, there was also meaningful ecosystem news from earlier in the week.
The Cardano Foundation announced on October 8, at TOKEN2049 in Singapore, that Veridian, its digital identity platform, will operate as an independent commercial company.
Veridian’s shares are the first deployment of CIP-0113, a programmable token standard that launched on the Cardano mainnet on October 7, 2026, with the equity following the very next day.
The shares are ledger-based securities under Switzerland’s DLT Act.
While that development generated a brief price spike,
Cardano surged 11% while Bitcoin and Ethereum barely budged, but within three days, every gain vanished, leaving buyers who chased the spike nursing serious losses.
For traders watching the chart, the key price levels are clearly defined.
On the four-day ADA/USD chart, the price is trading within an upward channel, with $0.315 and $0.405 standing out as key resistance levels for the ongoing recovery.
On the downside,
the selling pressure from large wallets and declining user activity suggests near-term headwinds, with technical support now critical at $0.23.
What to watch next: the most immediate deadline is October 31, when the Cardano Card goes dark — and any announcement of a replacement partner or service could meaningfully shift sentiment.
Analysts are also watching for a decisive daily close above $0.26 or below $0.24 to gauge the next directional move, alongside any official announcements regarding the Leios upgrade timeline.
On the institutional side,
the next technical question is whether CIP-0113 moves beyond its proposed status with the deployed Veridian equity as its first announced securities implementation.
This is not financial advice.
This article is for information only and is not financial advice. Crypto prices are volatile; always do your own research.