Key Takeaways
- Charles Hoskinson blamed Chainlink’s “absurd” fee for Cardano’s exclusion from a U.S. government blockchain partnership.
- The Cardano founder said Chainlink’s pricing model made ADA’s inclusion impractical.
- Hoskinson stressed that discussions with Chainlink remain ongoing despite the missed opportunity.
Cardano’s absence from the U.S. government’s recent blockchain initiative raised eyebrows across crypto. Now, founder Charles Hoskinson says the reason boils down to money.
In his latest YouTube AMA, Hoskinson claimed that Cardano was left out of the federal government’s deal to bring macroeconomic data on-chain because Chainlink, the oracle provider tasked with integration, quoted what he described as “an absurd number” for Cardano support.
Chainlink High Fee Cost Cardano Gov Deal?
“They gave us an absurd number for integration,” Hoskinson said. “We’ll handle it. Sergey [Nazarov] is a brilliant man. He knows he’s sitting on a golden egg, and he knows what he’s worth.”
The U.S. deal, announced earlier this month, included Ethereum (ETH), Solana (SOL), and several other blockchains as recipients of official data feeds.
However, Cardano (ADA) and XRP were absent—an omission that fueled criticism of Cardano’s pace of adoption despite its reputation for stability and its inclusion in the White House’s list of crypto treasury tokens.
Chainlink Integration in Limbo
Hoskinson emphasized that discussions with Chainlink are ongoing, but acknowledged that Cardano’s unique design complicates matters.
Unlike Ethereum and Solana, Cardano isn’t EVM-compatible, which means Chainlink would need to build separate infrastructure for ADA—an expensive lift.
Chainlink, long considered the gold standard for decentralized data oracles, is used by both crypto-native and traditional financial institutions.
Its market dominance, coupled with growing government partnerships, has given it leverage in setting integration terms.
Still, Hoskinson suggested that the standoff was less about technology than economics.
“The high fee made including ADA among the supported blockchains impractical,” he said, implying Cardano’s exclusion wasn’t due to lack of capability but rather Chainlink’s pricing strategy.
Missed Timing, Lingering Criticism
For some in the community, the episode was less surprising than frustrating.
Critics pointed out that Cardano had been in talks with Chainlink as far back as four years ago but failed to close a deal at the time.
That missed opportunity now looms larger as Cardano, despite its record of zero downtime in five years, continues to face criticism for lagging utility and late-arriving smart contract functionality, which only went live in 2021.
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Prashant Jha is a seasoned crypto journalist based in Delhi, India, with a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science Engineering. Passionate about the evolving world of blockchain and cryptocurrencies, he has been a dedicated voice in the industry since 2018. Prashant’s expertise lies in regulatory reporting, where he unravels complex legal and financial developments with clarity and precision. Before joining CCN in 2024, he honed his craft at Cointelegraph, establishing himself as a trusted name in crypto journalism.
His coverage spans major industry events, including the high-profile collapses of FTX, Three Arrows Capital (3AC), and LUNA, offering readers insightful analyses of their regulatory and market implications. Prashant’s technical background enables him to bridge the gap between intricate blockchain technology and its real-world applications, making his work accessible to novices and experts.
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