Cardano price is hovering near $0.25 support as traders watch whether ADA can hold the level while Charles Hoskinson discusses potential buybacks.

Cardano (ADA) moved lower on Wednesday as sellers kept pressure on the market. At the time of writing, ADA was trading at $0.2585, down about 2% over the past 24 hours.

During the past week, the token traded between $0.2492 and $0.2828. The range has narrowed as the market cooled after earlier volatility. ADA has lost around 5% over the last seven days, and the longer trend remains weak. Since January, the token is down roughly 20% in 2026 so far.

Market activity has not changed much despite the price decline. Daily trading volume reached $799 million, only 0.22% higher than the previous session.

CoinGlass data shows some cooling in derivatives markets. Open interest slipped 3.57% to $419 million, which often happens when traders close positions during uncertain price action.

Hoskinson hints at ADA buybacks and new funding model

In a recent video update, Charles Hoskinson shared new details about how the Cardano ecosystem may be funded in the coming years.

According to Hoskinson, the network has spent years building its core infrastructure. The next step, he said, is to focus more on useful applications and better user experience. Without that shift, strong infrastructure alone will not attract users.

Developers and dApp teams could receive stronger incentives under the proposed model. One idea being discussed involves the Cardano treasury investing in a group of projects across the ecosystem, including DeFi platforms and other applications.

If the plan moves forward, returns from those investments could be used in part to buy ADA from the open market. Hoskinson described this as a possible buyback mechanism that may support the token while also funding ecosystem growth.

The proposal reflects a change in approach. Instead of relying mostly on grants, the treasury may begin making strategic investments designed to increase activity on the network.

Hoskinson has said that 2026 will be an important year for execution, with attention shifting toward real-world utility and stronger dApp ecosystems.

Technical analysis: ADA holds near key support

On the charts, Cardano is trading close to the lower Bollinger Band, which often appears when markets face short-term selling pressure.

The overall trend still points downward. Over the past several weeks, the chart has produced lower highs and lower lows, a pattern that usually marks a continuing downtrend.

Price also remains below the Bollinger midline near $0.27, which has acted as resistance during recent attempts to recover.

Volatility has started to contract slightly as the Bollinger Bands move closer together. Periods like this often come before a stronger move once volatility returns.

Momentum indicators remain weak. The relative strength index is hovering near 40–45, a level that suggests sellers still hold the advantage, though the market is not deeply oversold.

For now, $0.25 is the key level to watch. The market has tested this support several times in recent sessions. If it breaks, price could slide toward $0.23 or even $0.22.

On the other hand, buyers would need to push ADA back above $0.27 to improve the short-term outlook. That level aligns with the Bollinger midline and has acted as a barrier during the recent downtrend.

Crypto ATM fraud surged to $333 million in the US in 2025, with complaints received by the FBI growing 33% in the year as scam networks became more industrialized while tapping into advanced AI deepfake technology.

Crypto ATM fraud is one of the fastest-growing financial crime categories in the US, according to cybersecurity firm CertiK in its latest report shared with Cointelegraph on Thursday, explaining that criminal organizations are exploiting the “speed and pseudonymity” of crypto ATMs or “kiosks” to extract funds from victims at an accelerating pace.

The FBI recorded more than 12,000 complaints between January and November 2025, also a 33% increase from the prior year. The US accounts for 78% of the world’s 45,000 cryptocurrency machines, said CertiK. 

Their ability to convert cash to crypto in under five minutes with minimal identity verification “makes them the lowest-friction extraction channel available to scammers,” the firm added. 

Elderly more vulnerable to social engineering

The report also noted that there was an “attribution gap” because the blockchain only records the operator-to-destination transfer, not the victim’s identity. This makes forensic tracing extremely difficult without court orders for operator records.

Around 86% of losses involve victims over 60, as older adults are disproportionately vulnerable due to “liquid savings,” lower crypto literacy, and social isolation.

However, younger victims are increasingly appearing in romance or investment scams, commonly known as “pig butchering,” which is one of five primary tactics used by scammers.

The other four approaches are government impersonation, tech support fraud, “grandparent scams,” and fake fraud recovery offers.

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Unlike phishing or wallet-draining attacks, which involve compromising private keys or tricking users into signing malicious smart contract requests, ATM-based fraud “relies entirely on social engineering to induce the victim to perform a voluntary physical action at a kiosk,” stated CertiK. 

AI is making things worse

AI-enabled social engineering scams were 4.5 times more profitable than traditional methods in 2025, reported CertiK.

The integration of “real-time deepfake synthetic media” into scam and fraud operations represents the most “significant near-term escalation,” it stated. 

“AI-driven personalization tools enable scammers to scrape social media data and construct hyper-targeted scripts that mirror the specific language, appearance, and communication patterns of the victim’s trusted contacts.” 

The profile of crypto ATM scammers has also shifted from independent actors to structured transnational criminal organizations operating with corporate-level divisions of labor, according to CertiK.

“Transnational criminal organizations are industrializing ATM-based extraction at unprecedented scale.”

Wyoming Senator Cynthia Lummis said in September that she hopes the crypto market structure legislation will help tackle ATM fraud by punishing bad actors without limiting innovation.

In February 2025, US Senator Dick Durbin introduced the Crypto ATM Fraud Prevention Act, aiming to introduce safeguards for crypto kiosk users.

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