The discussion about ADA has never stopped, but many holders' logic often seems somewhat one-sided. Some say: "Back in 2021, ADA didn't do anything and just rose to $3. Now that it has smart contracts and a PoS mechanism, it should be seriously undervalued." It sounds reasonable, but this kind of thinking is actually just an excuse for oneself.

Looking deeper, what was the real driving force behind ADA reaching $3 in 2021? Mainly the market’s high expectations for its future development—concepts like smart contracts and PoS consensus mechanisms indeed sparked investors’ imaginations. Coupled with abundant macro liquidity at that time and widespread hype around crypto projects, ADA was packaged as a "third-generation public chain" and an "Ethereum killer," naturally attracting capital.

The question is: what has been the actual performance over these years? TVL remains flat, network speed is slow and prone to lag, and there have even been chain splits. Each so-called "key upgrade" ultimately failed to bring significant ecological prosperity, instead repeatedly breaking market expectations. Compared to the hype back then, the current disappointment has naturally multiplied.

Interestingly, in the same US-supported, Wall Street-focused crypto market, opportunities in 2021 seemed everywhere. Why did ADA, which was once at $3, now drop to $0.3? This price trend itself already says a lot—the market’s verdict by foot voting doesn’t lie.

Recently, I read a sentence that was quite enlightening: "Don’t be fooled by the grand visions of project teams when investing; the key is to see what they have actually achieved over the past years." From this perspective, ADA’s achievements in recent years are indeed not very impressive. This may well be a true reflection of its changing market position.