Why Charles Hoskinson Might Be The Right Person To Propel The Crypto Ecosystem To Its Heights

Charles Hoskinson is today one of the most prominent figures in the crypto industry; the Cardano founder also happens to be quite a controversial individual who enjoys an equal measure of fans and haters –  ‘I’m kind of polarizing. People either like me or they hate me. There’s not a lot of people in between.’ That said, his dedication and commitment to improving the world through blockchain technology have always stood out. 

Before launching Cardano in 2015, Hoskinson was part of Ethereum’s pioneer team where he contributed to major strategic decisions, including the design of the Initial Coin Offering (ICO). However, this collaboration was short-lived after Hoskinson’s beliefs differed from those of the Ethereum community. Today, he runs one of the most promising smart contract blockchains, also touted as the Ethereum challenger. 

While Cardano’s DApp ecosystem is still in its early stages, the growth of this Proof-of-Stake (PoS) blockchain has been quite impressive over the years. Most notably, the debut of the Alonzo mainnet in 2021 has paved the way for DeFi and NFT innovators to leverage Cardano’s high throughput building environment. Currently, there are over 1,000 DApps on Cardano, with the number expected to increase once the Hydra Layer-2 solution is launched. 

“We are going to keep adding resources to Hydra, and we’ve been trying to identify some teams so we can parallelize the workstream because it’s such a high commercial priority. And it’s going to be very important that we’ll be able to offload a large number of the transaction traffic that’s going to come from all of the apps that are coming.” previously noted Hoskinson. 

A Mover and Shaker in the Crypto Community 

With the crypto ecosystem now over a decade old, several figures have emerged as movers and shakers given their contribution to its growth. At the helm is the anonymous Satoshi Nakamoto whose invention ‘Bitcoin’ still dominates the crypto market cap to date. On the other hand, we have the smart contract bandwagon which features the likes of Vitalik Buterin (Ethereum) and Charles Hoskinson (Cardano). 

Besides launching Cardano, Hoskinson has been pretty vocal about other crypto issues that need to be addressed. He recently testified to Congress on digital asset regulation, noting that blockchain’s maximum utility can only be tapped if we have proper regulatory frameworks in place. A debate that has gained momentum in the past two years, with regulatory bodies such as the SEC and CFTC tightening their stance on the industry.  

“Principles-based regulation, which is more flexible, can adapt and evolve alongside the nascent technology without strangling an industry that has only started and forcing companies abroad,” said Hoskinson. 

Hoskinson’s other contributions have been on the social impact front; as it stands, Input Output Global (IOG), the company behind Cardano’s development, has partnered with the Ethiopian government to create a blockchain-oriented digital identity system for verifying academic credentials. According to Hoskinson, this initiative will go a long way in enabling data-driven policy making and the authentication of academic credentials on a global level. 

These initiatives to bring tangible solutions to the masses through blockchain technology have also inspired some projects in the Cardano community to follow a similar path. To this end, we have the likes of Blueshift, a decentralized exchange (DEX) and a new-generation crypto asset management protocol, which is currently investing in educating crypto newbies to expand their knowledge about blockchain ecosystems and the digital asset economy. 

More importantly, Hoskinson is a strong believer in the potential of decentralized markets when it comes to financial inclusion (one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals). In fact, IOG is already making progress in Kenya and Ghana following a collaboration with Pezesha Africa Limited to facilitate capital access for small and medium sized businesses. ‘The goal is to build simple friction-free tools that enable seamless lending.’

Looking Ahead 

Despite the ongoing market turbulence, the Cardano community led by Charles Hoskinson is more determined than ever to become the next DeFi and NFT hub. The Hydra Layer-2 upgrade will boost Cardano’s throughput to 1 million transaction per second (tps); in contrast, Ethereum will only scale to 100,000 tps after the much awaited ETH 2.0 upgrade. Meanwhile, Solana’s current output is 65,000 tps. 

With the blockchain ecosystem poised for more growth in the coming years, it is becoming evident that Cardano’s ‘slow but sure’ approach is paying off. The next era of DeFi and NFT innovations will likely pivot to Cardano given the fundamental growth and the potential to scale as more stakeholders join the industry. Furthermore, Hoskinson’s inclination to decentralized infrastructures is a defining factor in the platform’s strategic growth. 

“If we get [proof-of-stake] right, the network will be 250 times more decentralized than Bitcoin.” – Charles Hoskinson. 

As for the impact on community development, the Cardano founder who also doubles down as the CEO of IOG has demonstrated that he has the best interests at heart. The industry certainly needs champions who will not only advocate for sustainable regulatory measures but improve the lives of people through blockchain-based solutions. For this task, Hoskinson has proved to be on the right side of history despite the regular criticisms from other crypto natives.