Cardano Will Become World's Biggest Cryptocurrency, Hoskinson Says (2024)

In a keynote address at the Rare Evo conference, Charles Hoskinson, the CEO of IOG, made the audacious prediction that Cardano (ADA) will overtake Bitcoin and Ethereum to become the world's largest cryptocurrency.

Currently, Cardano sits as the eighth-largest cryptocurrency with a market capitalization of approximately $9.16 billion, far behind Bitcoin's $506 billion and Ethereum's $198 billion.

A cornerstone of his argument is Cardano's commitment to on-chain governance, a decentralized form of decision-making that directly involves the community.

"So, that is our challenge, and this is why I think that Cardano is probably going to become the biggest cryptocurrency in the world. I think that it's going to become more than just a cryptocurrency. I think it's going to become the backbone of a new digital nation, a new society—a place where we can finally begin to trust each other again, where we move from 'don't be evil' to 'can't be evil,'" Hoskinson said.

He aimed his criticisms at the governance models of market leaders Bitcoin and Ethereum. He pointed out that Bitcoin's static design—unchanged from its inception over 13 years ago—could be its Achilles' heel in the long term. Ethereum's leadership dismissed on-chain governance as unachievable, but Hoskinson argued that as crypto platforms mature and accumulate users in the hundreds of millions, not employing some form of on-chain governance could become a liability.

The Cardano founder also tackled apprehensions surrounding decentralized governance, which some view as disruptive to established systems.

For Hoskinson, however, this form of governance could be a tool for renewed community engagement and trust.

He expressed his faith in human potential, stating that he has "always believed in the best in people," and sees decentralized governance as a way to restore that trust.

Achieving the mantle of "world's largest cryptocurrency" would require Cardano to not only significantly scale its user base but also to navigate a complex web of regulatory and technical challenges.

As reported by U.Today, Hoskinson recently denied that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission was going after Cardano despite the fact that ADA was listed among unregistered securities in the lawsuits against Binance and Coinbase.