Cardano Founder Declares ADA Is Not ‘People’s Money’

• Charles Hoskinson clarified that ADA managed by IOG is private profit, while the Cardano Foundation holds responsibility for funding ecosystem initiatives like USDC integration.
• Cardano faces adoption challenges due to limited dApps and stablecoin support, but technical analysis suggests bullish momentum in the weeks ahead.

Input Output Global’s (IOG) ADA holdings are private profits and not intended to be considered “people’s money.” Charles Hoskinson emphasized that the Cardano Foundation (CF), which received ADA as a donation, holds the responsibility for funding ecosystem initiatives. Notably, amid positive ecosystem trends, CNF highlighted bullish projections for ADA’s price.

According to a thread on X, some community members questioned why IOG, the Cardano Foundation, and Emurgo have not collectively contributed ADA to support USDC integration. Hoskinson clarified that IOG’s ADA was not “given” but earned as profit from building Cardano since its founding in 2015, with an initial value of $8 million.

Hoskinson further reiterated that CF, unlike IOG, received ADA as a donation specifically mandated to fund ecosystem growth.

No ada was "given" to IOG. We earned it all. It's not the people's money. It's profit for building Cardano. The original value of IOG's ada was around 8 million dollars in 2015.

We've been here for 9 years building. The CF was given ada as a donation. They have a mandate to…

— Charles Hoskinson (@IOHK_Charles) January 12, 2025

USDC Integration Rejected by CF

Hoskinson revealed that the CF previously declined a $3 million opportunity to integrate USDC despite managing assets worth $2 billion at the time. This decision faced criticism from a former CF employee, whom Hoskinson accused of attempting to “rewrite history” by attributing Cardano’s slower adoption to its failure to attract major stablecoin issuers.

To provide additional context, in 2021, the Harvard International Review noted CF’s advocacy for modernizing global financial systems, citing inefficiencies like high remittance costs (8%-10%), exorbitant lending interest rates (up to 72% annually), and insufficient access to insurance in certain economies.

As a consequence of the lack of integration of the global financial system, simple things like the movement of money globally (remittances) can be 8 percent to 10 percent. Lending can have interest rates as high as 72 percent a year. That is a pretty remarkable interest rate. And, insurance doesn’t work in a lot of these economies.

Stablecoin Challenges on Cardano

Stablecoin providers like Circle and Tether reportedly hesitate to support Cardano due to its limited decentralized applications and transaction volume. Currently, USDC operates on 16 blockchain networks, including Polkadot and Hedera, and has a market cap of $46 billion, ranking as the eighth-largest cryptocurrency. Hoskinson’s remarks underscore the ongoing challenges in scaling Cardano’s ecosystem and adoption.

In recent days, CNF highlighted that Cardano’s ecosystem has been scrutinized due to debates over ADA token allocation for ecosystem growth. Despite these challenges, the technical analysis highlights a bullish outlook for Cardano, with significant momentum expected in the coming weeks. At the time of writing, Cardano (ADA) is trading at $0.9094, reflecting a 7.54% decrease in the past day and a 15.65% decrease in the past week.

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