Despite the reputation Cardano's middling fortunes in the cryptocurrency market have given ADA, the token has significantly outperformed the majority of the most popular investments in the equity markets over the last 12

Cardano's (ADA) price performance has finally started to match the activity explosion on its blockchain, which saw a huge surge in active addresses and smart contracts in 2025.

As reported by Benzinga previously, the Cardano chain saw a huge increase in activity in 2025, which brought the network's total value locked (TVL) to over $1 billion for the first time in January. The activity was also reflected in the price performance of ADA, which rose over 500% in the first five months of the year.

But despite the stellar performance of the token, it is still lagging behind Bitcoin (BTC) and is trading at a fraction of Ethereum's (ETH) all-time highs.

However, comparing Cardano to the most popular stocks in the world shows that the token has outperformed the majority of the most traded equities in the last 12 months.

At press time, Cardano is trading at around $0.79, and has increased by 71.39% in the last year. Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) is the most popular stock in the world and is currently trading at $117.37, after rising by 32.25% in the last 12 months.

The two other contenders for the spot of the biggest company in the world by market capitalization are Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL). MSFT stock has increased by 6.42% to $438.78 in the last 12 months, while AAPL shares have risen by 7.33% to $198.09.

Interestingly, the best-performing popular firm relative to Cardano's 52-week rally proves to be Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA), despite the TSLA shares' sharp drop in 2025 and the electric vehicle (EV) maker's abysmal sales in the first quarter (Q1) of the year. Elon Musk's car company rose 66.88% in the last year—almost as much as Cardano—and is, at press time, changing hands at $286.99.

In other words, if an investor had invested $1,000 in Cardano a year ago, their investment would be worth around $1,713.9 today. In comparison, if they had invested $1,000 in Nvidia a year ago, their investment would be worth around $1,322.37 today.

This analysis shows that Cardano has outperformed Nvidia, Microsoft, and Apple in the last 12 months by a significant margin. Only Tesla shares have performed better than Cardano in the last year.

However, it is important to note that past performance is not necessarily indicative of future results. As the cryptocurrency market is highly volatile, investors should always do their own research and invest at their own risk.