Key Insights:
- Charles Hoskinson said intents represent the next evolution in cryptocurrency, with users declaring outcomes while automation handles execution across chains and protocols.
- Cardano’s extended-UTxO ledger and Plutus validators enable deterministic transaction simulation before submission, supporting intent-centric user flows.
- Three Vasil-era primitives (CIP-31, CIP-32, CIP-33) reduce friction for intent fulfillment through reference inputs, inline datums, and reference scripts.
Charles Hoskinson, CEO of Input Output Global, described intent-based transactions as the next frontier in cryptocurrency during an interview with Crypto Crow.
Mintern, an account associated with Cardano’s Minswap, shared excerpts on Oct. 29 and said Cardano’s architecture provided advantages for this model.
Hoskinson explained intent-based finance through an example of purchasing coffee at Berlin’s airport.
A customer paid in dollars at Starbucks, but the transaction required currency conversion from dollars to euros and routing through credit card networks to the merchant’s bank.
The process involved approximately 40 steps, but the user only declared an intent: buy coffee for a specific price with a specific payment method. Automation handled the conversion, routing, and settlement.
Hoskinson stated this approach represented how finance, markets, and commerce operate. He said intents constituted the next major development in cryptocurrency, and Cardano maintained built-in advantages for this model.
Cardano’s Technical Framework for Intents
Cardano’s extended-UTxO ledger and Plutus validators make transaction effects and fees deterministic before submission.
A front end can express a user’s desired outcome, build a constrained unsigned transaction locally, and know exactly what occurs once a solver or batcher submits it.
This predictability supports intent flows where users declare goals and automation executes.
Three Vasil-era primitives enable intent-based user experiences. Reference inputs (CIP-31) allow solvers to read on-chain state without spending it.
Inline datums (CIP-32) allow the intent itself to exist directly as data on a UTxO. Reference scripts (CIP-33) permit multiple intents to point to a pre-deployed validator, eliminating repeated code deployment costs.
Together, these features reduce friction and costs in automated fulfillment.
The standard dApp-wallet bridge (CIP-30) collects and signs intents. A web application builds the transaction, requests the user’s wallet to sign via the injected API, receives the witness set, and submits.
The Plutus Application Backend and common SDKs handle off-chain orchestration.
Batchers Function as Intent Solvers
Cardano DEXes operate batcher systems that demonstrate the intent pattern in production. Users post swap or liquidity-provider UTxOs with constraints such as price, minimum output, and deadline.
An off-chain batcher aggregates and settles them into a single on-chain transaction, functioning as a solver that fulfills intents. Minswap documented this explicitly in its technical documentation.
Ledger features support intent automation. Validity intervals and time-to-live parameters provide explicit time windows for automation to know when an order expires.
Collateral outputs (CIP-40) contain failed-script risk without seizing user funds beyond the collateral rule set, which matters for safe automated submission.
Hydra Heads mirrors layer-1 semantics off-chain through isomorphic state channels. The same Plutus logic can execute in a head and later settle back to layer-1, which is useful for solver-style matching engines that require lower latency.
NEAR’s Intents platform added ADA support, showing how solver layers can select routes and gas across chains while users only declare outcomes.
Different Approaches Across Ecosystems
Other blockchain ecosystems take different routes toward intent-based transactions. On Ethereum, UniswapX and CoW Protocol focus on off-chain signed orders settled via solver competitions and batch auctions to protect against MEV.
ERC-4337 and ERC-7702 add smart account user experience and gas abstraction that many intent front ends employ.
NEAR introduced intents, a native transaction type tied to Chain Signatures and the chain abstraction, with solver networks fulfilling cross-chain goals directly.
This positions intents as first-class protocol features rather than Cardano’s application-level pattern.
Cosmos converged around order-flow auctions and cross-chain intent standards like ERC-7683, plus Skip and Interchain work on solver-driven routing between zones.
Solana emphasized interface-native Actions and Blinks, which let users click a URL to compose and submit a transaction via their wallet, while RFQ and aggregator systems handle price discovery.
Cardano’s proposal differs in its deterministic extended-UTxO, Vasil features, and Hydra’s isomorphism, which make it natural to encode intents as UTxO data and have off-chain batchers settle them predictably.
What Is in the Near Term for Cardano’s Price?
Although intents are not a solution for short-term success, they certainly fuel the narrative around an asset, supporting its price action.
Analyst Ali Martinez stated on Oct. 29 that Cardano might reach $1.70 if it broke above $0.80. His chart showed a symmetrical triangle pattern with price consolidating between converging trendlines since early 2025.
The Sniper Club published an analysis on Oct. 29 that identified support zones for ADA on the daily chart.
The publication said Cardano’s price consolidated in a support area between $0.58 and $0.67. Entry opportunities existed in this range, with first targets at $0.74 to $0.85, representing gains of 28% to 47%.
Second targets ranged from $0.94 to $1.14, representing gains of 62% to 97%. The analysis placed a stop loss below $0.52.
Supported by a long-term perspective, price action might act in the short term as the analysts predicted.