Charles Hoskinson Claims Cardano Is “Completed” — Community Disagrees Over Roadmap Fulfillment
Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson stirred controversy this week by declaring that the blockchain project is “completed.” Speaking on Wednesday, the Input Output Global (IOG) CEO revealed he has been working without pay since 2020, following the expiration of IOG’s original development contract.
Hoskinson clarified that by “completed,” he was referring to IOG having fulfilled the contractual goals set at Cardano’s inception in 2015, starting with the Genesis Block Distribution. According to him, Cardano’s initial roadmap obligations were met by 2020.
“Cardano has been completed. The original contract expired in 2020. I’ve been working for free because I care about Cardano,” he said.
He also noted that the scaling phase defined in the original roadmap had been achieved, although further enhancements, like Hydra and Leios—are now in development. These advanced solutions, however, may be in jeopardy without sustained funding. Hoskinson warned that the lack of financial support could force IOG to pivot or exit, a claim that sparked sharp backlash from Cardano community members.
Many questioned how Cardano could be deemed “completed” if major scalability features are still missing. Critics pointed out that Hydra, a protocol designed to boost Cardano’s transaction speed to rival networks like Solana (up to 65,000 TPS), is not yet deployed on the mainnet.
“Respectfully, how is the roadmap complete when promised scaling hasn’t been delivered?” one community member asked.
Another user emphasized that key projects like Basho, Leios, and Hydra were heavily discussed but have yet to reach implementation, highlighting a disconnect between Hoskinson’s statement and community expectations.
The debate also reignited concerns around Cardano’s governance and funding mechanisms. Hoskinson maintained that IOG cannot continue development at a loss and criticized community-driven calls for decentralized competitive bidding. He argued that such models could push out developers from high-cost countries like the U.S., forcing IOG to consider hiring from lower-cost regions like Eastern Europe or India.
“I’m not laying off hundreds of employees just to hire cheaper developers. We are not a time-and-materials firm—we build cryptocurrencies,” Hoskinson stated.
This isn’t the first time Hoskinson has criticized the Cardano Foundation. He’s previously argued for shifting to a membership-based organization (MBO) to empower the ADA community and questioned the Foundation’s governance decisions, including their cautious stance on budget allocations and the new Cardano constitution.
