Big announcements usually lead to big price swings, but that hasn’t happened since Solana And Cardano. Despite major updates, their tokens have remained surprisingly quiet.
Are traders losing interest or is the market just waiting?
PayPal Chooses Solana as Default Network for PYUSD
Over the past week, PayPal made Solana the default blockchain for its stablecoin, PayPal USD (PYUSD). This means that most transfers and payments using PYUSD will now run on Solana, unless users manually choose another network like Ethereum or Arbitrum (ARB).
Source:
PYUSD 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 demonstrates confidence in its ability to handle payments at scale.
Cardano set to close stablecoin gap with USDCx
The network is preparing to launch a new stablecoin called USDCx, a version of USD Coin designed to function within its ecosystem. The launch is expected by the end of February and will solve the huge problem of low stablecoin liquidity of Cardano (ADA).
Philip DiSaro, CEO of Anastasia Labs, said on X:
“I am extremely excited about CIP-113, as a co-author, as well as the architect and developer of the Programmable Token Smart Contracts (iohk/wsc-poc repo).”
Currently, Cardano has less than $40 million in stablecoins, far behind rival networks like Ethereum and Solana. This has made it more difficult for developers and users to create and use DeFi applications on the network.
USDCx is backed 1:1 by USDC reserves and will function like regular USDC for most users.
The price did not flinch
Even with these developments, price performance has not followed strongly for either token. Solana saw a brief mid-week rebound, but the pace quickly slowed as sellers returned and gains were limited.
In the meantime, Cardano managed only a modest rise, underperforming relative to the magnitude of its next stablecoin catalyst.
Source: TradingView
The market has likely already priced in the news, or traders are waiting for actual usage data before becoming bullish.
Final Summary
- Paypal selected Solana as PYUSD’s default network!
- CardanoThe launch of USDCx could solve its stable liquidity problem below $40 million.
