Showcasing the Cardano Ecosystem

Hi, this is Charles Hoskinson broadcasting live from warm, sunny Colorado. Today is February 21st, 2024, and I'm making a video to talk a little bit about our Cardano ecosystem, something near and dear to my heart. As many of since we've been the first mover in this ecosystem, we know many projects and we interact with many projects in the space, whether they be World Mobile, Axo, or Sunday Swap. Some of these projects, because I set up the CF Fund, we actually took an investment in and own part of, while others we have no relationship with, but we wish them well as they do interesting, novel, and unique things on the Cardano blockchain. What I've been trying to do lately is host a series of Twitter Spaces to engage with various projects and showcase what they're doing.

The intent of these Twitter Spaces is not to endorse those projects or suggest that you should consume them or be part of them, but rather to showcase that project so people can better understand what's being built on Cardano. One has to understand, from my perspective, where I sit and the criticism we deal with at IO usually stems from the perception that Cardano has no projects on it. Some say Cardano is a ghost chain, claiming nothing has been achieved or accomplished, and that it's just a bunch of nothing. The point of showcasing is to say, "Hey, there’s actual stuff being done." Projects are being built, tokens are being issued, smart contracts are being written, and users are excited about various things.

The danger of this, however, is that by showcasing a project, unfortunately, people believe it’s a wholesale endorsement of that project, its economics, and the behavior of the founders. Some of these projects have approached me and asked if we can do a Twitter Space. My first desire is to say yes, but upon reflection, we may find out there’s been a rug pull or allegations of one, which puts me in a difficult position. On one hand, I the communities and the people involved, and I think they’re doing interesting things, especially projects utilizing the Cardano native asset standard or the UTXO model, or those with intriguing governance methods. On the other hand, we are not an investigative agency; we don’t audit these projects or evaluate the conduct of the founders.

It’s very similar to being a podcast host. For example, if you’re Lex Fridman and you have many guests come on, you might invite a guest because you think they would provide an interesting conversation about a wide array of topics. But what if one of those guests did something wrong or is controversial? Just by platforming that guest, some people feel it’s an endorsement, that you’re embracing that person and giving them legitimacy. As a project founder, I’m in a similar role, and it puts me in a difficult spot.

My end goal is to showcase that Cardano not only has activity, but that the projects building on Cardano are on par with the same level of passion, excitement, quality, and overall chance of success as projects being built elsewhere. We have a great ecosystem, great people, and so much to share that’s unique about who we are. It would be a shame if some squabbles or legitimate concerns derail the entire endeavor of showcasing these projects. Today, I was scheduled for a Twitter Space with one of the projects on Cardano, and there’s been some confusion lately about what’s been happening there. Several people messaged me asking why I was hanging out with these people or expressing concerns about issues.

I acknowledged that I don’t know a lot about it; I’m somewhat detached from the day-to-day. I look at on-chain activity, total value locked, how blocks are being utilized, protocol design, capital flows in and out, transaction volume, and various statistics and metrics. I don’t evaluate individual projects from the perspective of funding, governance, or commitments they make with their communities. It’s simply impossible because there are too many of them. Part of the immune system is you, the community, who usually comes to me with legitimate concerns.

It’s become clear to me that I need to put more processes in place and start looking into some of these factors to create a baseline, an open, objective baseline. It would be nice to pull this into formats that are higher in production quality and allow for fair representation. So, I’m going to dial back a little bit on my showcasing and cancel some of the upcoming Twitter Spaces. We’ll reset and reformat things to have a better way of engaging. What we’ll likely do is announce that we think it’s going to be fun to showcase a project, have an open process to solicit questions about that particular project, and maybe conduct an interview or something along those lines.

This way, I can make it absolutely clear that it’s not my intent to endorse it or say that this particular project is awesome or not; rather, it’s to give a platform for that project to broadcast its existence and showcase that Cardano has many cool and interesting things going on. Hopefully, this will allow people to connect, discover new things, and ultimately showcase that Cardano as a whole is a great ecosystem. That has always been my intent. I know this will make some people upset and others happy. The nature of my role is that no matter what I do, I’ll upset someone, so I might as well do it for the right reasons—airing on the side of correctness, accuracy, and accomplishing the end goal of showcasing the ecosystem as a whole.

I think that’s a pretty good position to be in. Thank you so much for listening, and I’m sorry to those who are disappointed. I’ll see you guys soon. Cheers!