Cardano Criticism Countered by 2 Major Upgrades, According to Charles Hoskinson

Key Takeaways

• Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson has spoken out against criticism of the blockchain.
• He pointed to 2 upcoming upgrades that he said will boost the Cardano ecosystem.
• the Chang Hardfork will set the stage for a new decentralized governance system.
• Meanwhile, the implementation of a new consensus algorithm, Ouroboros Leios, is set to boost the blockchain’s throughput.

Thanks to a string of dead coins and a struggling ADA market, Cardano has received a lot of criticism in recent months. But founder Charles Hoskinson isn’t fazed by the haters.

Pointing to 2 upcoming Cardano upgrades that are expected to be implemented in the coming months, Hoskinson argued that “we are holding all the cards as an ecosystem.”

Decentralized Governance Anticipated After Chang Hardfork

The first Cardano upgrade Hoskinson referred to is the Chang hardfork – the first fork of what the Cardano Roadmap calls the Voltaire Era.

Following an emphasis on scaling during the Basho Era, the Voltaire Era is defined by a movement toward decentralized governance.

Until now, Cardano’s three founding entities have been solely responsible for directing Treasury funds and making decisions about the network’s design. 

The company Hoskinson founded – Input Output – holds 3 of 7 governance keys. Meanwhile, the Cardano Foundation and Emurgo hold two each. At least five keys are needed to spend funds or approve changes to the Cardano protocol.

Going forward, however, the Chang upgrade will lay the technical foundations for a new governance system that more closely resembles Ethereum’s, with any network participant able to propose improvements and all ADA holders eligible to vote on proposals. 

Ouroboros Leios Set to Boost Cardano Throughput

While Chang is oriented toward governance, the other upgrade mentioned by Hoskinson is intended to scale Cardano’s throughput. 

Alongside Polkadot, Cardano uses Ouroboros proof-of-stake algorithms to create blockchain consensus. Different versions of Ouroboros have been implemented over the years, with the next major change scheduled to implement Ouroboros Leios later this year.

“Ouroboros Leios is the biggest step forward towards solving the blockchain trilemma ever,” Hoskinson stated, referring to a concept that describes tradeoffs between blockchain scalability, security, and decentralization.

According to the creators of the new protocol, “the whole thrust of the Leios design approach is to more fully utilize available resources as a means to increase throughput.”

However, before it is implemented, the Cardano community must consider the tradeoffs of different Leios configurations.

If the upgrade ramps up throughput too much, it will increase the hardware requirements for running a full Cardano node beyond those of the average user. This would make full-node wallets impractical, and most ADA holders would need to switch to light wallets.

About the Author

James Morales

Although his background is in crypto and FinTech news, these days, James likes to roam across CCN’s editorial breadth, focusing mostly on digital technology. Having always been fascinated by the latest innovations, he uses his platform as a journalist to explore how new technologies work, why they matter and how they might shape our future.

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