Cardano Founder Skeptical of Firms Controlling Crypto

• Cardano Founder Charles Hoskinson once again came out in support of algorithmic stablecoins.
• He noted that asset-backed stablecoins control 70% of all on-chain transaction volume.
• Hoskinson said that BTC ETFs might lead to a price surge, but “Legacy is eating crypto.”

The founder of Cardano, Charles Hoskinson, has stated that a few top companies control the majority of activity related to Bitcoin and stablecoins and reiterated his support for algorithmic stablecoins. 

In a video that Hoskinson shared on social media platform X and YouTube, titled “Legacy is Eating Crypto,” the Cardano founder noted that Circle and Tether control the asset-backed stablecoin industry. He said that USDT and USDC dominate 70% of on-chain volume while representing just 10% of the crypto industry.

Hoskinson said that Circle and Tether are regulated companies and are therefore subject to the jurisdiction where they reside. As a result, if they are made to follow certain local policies, the holders of the stablecoins might face trouble as well. 

“I’m not diminishing or saying they’re [Tether, Circle] bad actors and that they’re evil people or something. I’m just saying that they exist within a jurisdiction [and] they’re subject to regulation. Crypto is a global asset, [and] the people who hold it are subject to their local regulations,” noted the Cardano founder.

Stablecoins “can’t go fractional,” Hoskinson noted while adding that in the case of a hard fork on Ethereum, the issuers cannot say that their stablecoin will be on both forks because that would mean that “they’re only backed by 50 cents to the dollar.” 

The Cardano founder noted that by design, in the case of a hard fork, the issuers of asset-backed stablecoins will have the power to choose favorites and destroy the community for the second fork. 

Hoskinson also criticized the craze behind spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds, which recently crossed $10 billion in assets under management (AUM). He noted that firms like BlackRock and Fidelity have amassed over 200,000 BTC, which is making the prices surge, but the Bitcoin sector is gradually coming under the control of legacy firms. 

“10 legacy-regulated institutions control the vast majority of your value flow and also get to decide the future of all of these projects. Why? Because if you go in a different direction, they won’t list you, they won’t give you a stablecoin, and they’ll dump your coin if you go in a different direction for a project that you love,” said Hoskinson.  

The crypto entrepreneur concluded by stating that crypto was created to “eat” legacy, but now “legacy is eating crypto.”