Charles Hoskinson, the creator of Cardano, states that the engineering landscape of the blockchain has shifted significantly from its earlier days of “monolithic purity” to a more collaborative, multi-team framework. This evolution, if successful, aims to enhance the development speed that many stakeholders have been eagerly anticipating.
Cardano’s Engineering is Reaching a Significant Turning Point
In a recent update on X, Hoskinson shared insights regarding the deliberate, research-oriented approach that shaped Cardano’s Haskell-driven node and its peer-reviewed protocol framework. However, he noted that this method also “distanced many who wanted to contribute, hindered the introduction of new ideas, and led to a slow rollout of features.” He characterized this period as “an exhilarating turning point,” highlighting the synergy between “agile teams like Aiken and Midgard” and the larger formal-methods teams at IOG, especially those specifying essential elements using Agda.
“We are expanding the ecosystem,” Hoskinson noted, emphasizing that the introduction of alternative clients “will and should challenge the premises, designs, and features established by previous teams to integrate new protocols, economic conditions, and foster community progress.” While acknowledging that this change might upset those “who will seek easy targets and yearn for a past that didn’t truly exist,” he asserted that “these new times will usher in even more opportunities and thrilling capabilities.”
However, Hoskinson’s optimistic perspective contrasts sharply with ongoing concerns stemming from IOG’s decision to terminate its long-established contracts with Well-Typed and PN-Sol on April 30. These companies had been crucial in providing specialized expertise for Cardano’s networking, scalability, and key management projects. This decision was publicly discussed during the Technical Steering Committee (TSC) meeting on May 7, as detailed in a summary by community member YUTA-Cardano/CPA.
The summary revealed that engineers from the two firms had been engaged in projects like Leios, a high-throughput execution layer aimed at achieving around 1,000 transactions per second; the Log-Structured Merge-tree (LSM) project, which handles UTxO data migration from memory to disk; and KES Agent, an external key management service designed to uphold the original Preos design’s forward security.
Duncan Coutts, an experienced architect at Cardano currently on the TSC, cautioned that “up to one-third of the networking team might have been lost,” adding that integrating new hires typically requires over six months. This raises concerns about potential delays in delivery at a time when Hoskinson is advocating for faster progress.
Leios Expected in 2026
In response to a query on X regarding the reasons behind the termination of key personnel contracts, Hoskinson responded firmly: “Because I want Leios launched in 2026, not 2028, and I appreciate Pragma and diverse ideas and implementations. No more delays or games. Cardano has to evolve to the next level.” His statement clarified that the internal timelines, rather than performance concerns, were driving the changes, and that IOG is ready to reorganize contractors if alternative teams can accelerate progress.
Hoskinson’s demand for “no more…delays” highlights a longstanding tension within Cardano: while the project’s reputation is founded on mathematical rigor, its market relevance relies on demonstrating that academic methodologies can produce results at a competitive pace.
As of the time of this report, ADA was trading at $0.81.
