Hoskinson: Ethereum 2.0 upgrade does not threaten Cardano

In an interview with Yahoo Finance, Cardano (ADA) founder Charles Hoskinson explained why Ethereum’s transition to Proof-of-Stake (PoS) does not threaten Cardano.

During the interview, the host asked if Ethereum’s transition to proof-of-stake could make it a so-called “Cardano killer.”

Hoskinson countered, “I don’t see it that way. The slogan of the Cardano blockchain has always been “scalability, interoperability and sustainability”. And these three characteristics make it different from Ethereum.”

Regarding Ethereum’s migration to proof-of-stake, Hoskinson noted that Cardano was the first to bring it to market. “It’s just the engine. The engine doesn’t make a BMW a BMW. It’s just one component of the whole ecosystem.”

First, Hoskinson touched on the issue of governance, saying that Ethereum developers have “put their heads down” in the transition to Ethereum 2.0, and that no one is clear about how the system will evolve or update after the founders retire or lose their leadership.

Bitcoin faces similar problems, he said, and the larger the project, the slower it develops. While the on-chain governance system is not on the Ethereum 2.0 roadmap, it is a core part of Cardano.

Hoskinson also stressed interoperability, noting that Cardano has made special provisions for sidechains. However, Ethereum has yet to do this in a cost-effective manner, which indirectly increases gas fees. While this is a priority for Ethereum 2.0, it is not clear how they will do this.

Finally, Hoskinson stressed that Cardano and Ethereum have different audiences. The Cardano founder also pointed out that their accounting models are also completely different, and he emphasized the scalability of Cardano's UTXO model. This enables sharding by design, while Ethereum is still struggling with this model. Hoskinson concluded by saying that he believes "we will be the leader in micropayments."

When creating Cardano, Hoskinson wanted to use all the benefits of blockchain technology to try to improve the developing world. He saw that the population in Africa and Southeast Asia, where infrastructure was underdeveloped, was growing at a rate of 10% to 15% per year.

Hoskinson’s hope for Cardano is that the wealth built by this growing population will operate on this “alternative system.” He also highlighted that Cardano has already launched projects in Georgia and Ethiopia.

AskTheDoctor founder Prakash Chand moved his company’s AskToken blockchain to Cardano after communicating with Hoskinson about these goals. Billionaire Mark Cuban has also become a fan of the blockchain, saying he is “supporting” the blockchain project.