Cardano (ADA) price is up by 7.1% today, July 21, to trade at $0.175 at the time of writing. These gains come despite a hack on the Wanchain bridge that links Cardano with BNB Chain. This hack also comes barely one month after the SecondFi protocol lost $2.4 million in an exploit that occurred on June 24, 2026.
However, while ADA price is gaining, the NIGHT token is down by 25% amid reports that the recent hack drained $13 million worth of NIGHT tokens from the bridge.
Cardano Gains, NIGHT Token Crashes After Wanchain Bridge Exploit
Data from CoinMarketCap shows that the NIGHT token dropped from $0.026 to $0.019 on July 21 after reports of an exploit on the Wanchain bridge.
The drop comes after reports that the attackers stole 515 million NIGHT tokens from the bridge’s treasury. This moved some holders to start dumping their ADA holdings as speculation grew that the hackers might sell these tokens.
But while the price of NIGHT dropped to a record low of $0.015, Cardano price gained by 7% because the hack did not take place on Cardano’s layer-one network.
Besides, Cardano has been on an uptrend since the Van Rossem hard fork occurred on the Cardano network on June 19. This hard fork paves the way for a Leios upgrade that could make Cardano 60 times faster.
Cardano Price Breaks Resistance as Momentum Shifts Bullish
The price of Cardano has moved to resistance at the middle Bollinger band of $0.15. The last time that ADA moved above this band was on July 2, and the price later gained by 33% to $0.20.
If ADA repeats this trend, closing above the resistance at the middle band could push it to the upper band of $0.18.
The RSI reading of 56 also supports that the long-term Cardano price forecast is bullish. This RSI has also created a higher high, suggesting that there is more buying pressure than selling pressure.
If this buying pressure remains high even after Cardano closes above $0.18, the next bullish leg could be a run to the June 4 high of $0.20.
But if this bullish thesis fails and profit-takers start to sell, Cardano might drop to the lower Bollinger band of $0.15.
Cardano DeFi TVL Sheds 100M ADA
Data from DeFiLlama shows that the TVL on Cardano has dropped from 512 million ADA on July 1 to 407 million ADA on July 21.
This TVL has shed 105 million ADA in July 2026 alone, with these tokens being worth $17.85 million at the current price of Cardano.
However, the recent hack on the Wanchain bridge has caused a slight surge in DEX volume on Cardano from $549,000 on July 19 to $35 million on July 21.
The stablecoin market cap on the network has also climbed from $58 million on July 8 to $62 million at the time of writing.