Big announcements usually bring big price moves, but that hasn’t happened for Solana and Cardano. Despite major updates, their tokens have stayed surprisingly quiet.
Are traders losing interest, or is the market simply in wait?
PayPal picks Solana as default network for PYUSD
Over the last week, PayPal made Solana the default blockchain for its stablecoin, PayPal USD [PYUSD]. This means most transfers and payments using PYUSD will now run on Solana, unless users manually choose another network like Ethereum or Arbitrum [ARB].
PYUSD was first launched on Ethereum [ETH] in 2023, but PayPal expanded it to Solana in 2024 to take advantage of its faster speeds and much lower fees. Now, making Solana [SOL] the default network proves confidence in its ability to handle large-scale payments.
Cardano moves to fix the stablecoin gap with USDCx
The network is preparing to launch a new stablecoin called USDCx, a version of USD Coin designed to work within its ecosystem. The launch is expected by the end of February and will solve Cardano’s [ADA] huge low stablecoin liquidity problem.
Philip DiSaro, CEO of Anastasia Labs, said on X,
“I’m extremely excited for CIP-113, as a co-author, and of the architect and developer of the programmable tokens smart contracts (iohk/wsc-poc repo).”
Right now, Cardano has less than $40 million in stablecoins, far behind rival networks like Ethereum and Solana. This has made it harder for developers and users to build and use DeFi apps on the network.
USDCx is backed 1:1 by USDC reserves and will work just like regular USDC for most users.
Price hasn’t flinched
Even with these developments, price performance hasn’t followed through strongly for either token. Solana saw a brief bounce mid-week, but the pace faded quickly with sellers stepping back in and limiting gains.
Meanwhile, Cardano has only managed a modest upside, underperforming relative to the scale of its upcoming stablecoin catalyst.
The market has probably already priced in the news, or traders are waiting for real usage data before turning bullish.
