Cardano Hydra Layer Two Getting ‘Great Engagement’ as Charles Hoskinson Refutes the FUD

Key Takeaways

• Charles Hoskinson confirms Cardano’s Hydra scaling solution is still ongoing, dismissing skeptical videos as misinformation.
• Cardano pursues scaling solutions – Hydra for on-chain improvements and Hyperledger Firefly for enterprise adoption.
• Cardano’s DeFi TVL reached an all-time high recently, but skepticism lingers.

Charles Hoskinson, co-founder of Cardano, has dismissed rumors that its Hydra layer-2 scaling project has been abandoned.

He said that network development was still ongoing.

Cardano’s Hydra Still Alive, IOHK Chief Confirms Amid FUD

On March 18, the chief executive of IOHK confirmed on X that developers are still committed to the Hydra project.

Hoskinson dismissed claims that Cardano had abandoned Hydra as fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD).

Launched in May 2023, the Hydra protocol aims to improve transaction processing speed and reduce costs on the Cardano blockchain. It represents a key part of Cardano’s “Basho” phase, focusing on scaling efforts.

Highlighting Cardano’s Progress and Commitment to Scaling Solutions

On March 17, the YouTube channel The Cryptoviser released a video suggesting Cardano had shifted focus from Hydra, citing Hoskinson’s March 13 announcement about integrating with Hyperledger Firefly. This other scaling solution aims to provide enterprises with a technology stack to develop and expand Web3 applications.

Hoskinson told his 980,000 Twitter followers  that his team was at its “peak” in productivity and motivation. He also said there was  strong community engagement and Cardano would soon publish papers on protocol enhancements.

This wasn’t the first instance where Hoskinson had to counteract “FUD” concerning Hydra. In October, he uploaded a video praising Hydra’s capabilities as a scaling solution for Cardano, addressing skepticism about the network’s scaling capabilities or their perceived absence.

He challenged the critique about transaction throughput by clarifying that “Cardano is not a transactions-per-second (TPS) system but operates on a transaction-by-transaction basis”. Moreover, he mentioned that Hydra had shifted direction slightly, focusing on developing middleware that enables developers to create decentralized applications (DApps) for Cardano.

Cardano FUD Spikes Despite Rising DeFi Activity

On March 18, Hoskinson responded defensively to what he described as a surge of unfounded fear, uncertainty, and doubt concerning its partnership with the digital ID platform World Mobile and its scaling strategy.

He remarked on the influx of FUD over the weekend, expressing uncertainty about its source but suggesting it might be a typical phase in the cycle where doubts about Cardano’s potential and roadmap lead to widespread skepticism.

This year, Cardano experienced an increase in its decentralized finance (DeFi) total value locked (TVL), reaching a record high of $520 million on March 14, as reported by DefiLlama . Despite this achievement, Cardano still significantly trails behind its rivals such as Ethereum, Tron, BNB Smart Chain, and Solana, which collectively boast a TVL of $72 billion.