Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson has laid out big and bold intentions for the platform’s future. He said Cardano stands at a crucial juncture between two major trends in the blockchain world—specifically, the growing trend of Bitcoin-based decentralized finance (DeFi).
In a recent interview, Hoskinson said that Ethereum and Solana have been the biggest names in DeFi so far, but Bitcoin DeFi has not been properly explored yet. He called Bitcoin “a sleeping giant” and said Cardano has a great opportunity to wake it up.
“Ethereum and Solana have been the main platforms for innovation in DeFi,” Hoskinson said. “But Bitcoin’s DeFi space is still almost empty—and the potential could be many times greater.”
According to data from DeFiLlama, Solana currently has a total value locked (TVL) of about $111.3 billion, while Ethereum has $61.2 billion. Still, Hoskinson believes the Bitcoin DeFi market could be bigger than both of these and has a lot of room for growth.
His dream is for Cardano to become the foundation of this new DeFi era and connect Bitcoin’s network to the larger world of DeFi.
In January 2025, Hoskinson laid out his plans for the year in a tweet, outlining three main tasks for Cardano: launching Bitcoin DeFi, making the network faster and more scalable by introducing a new protocol called Ouroboros Leios, and better integrating with external platforms like Chainlink.
“Now that governance is well underway, I’ll focus on three big goals for Cardano this year,” he said.
By becoming the leader in Bitcoin DeFi, Cardano not only wants to expand its network, but also wants to change the direction of the entire DeFi sector. If this plan succeeds, it could change the balance of power in DeFi today, while also providing new ways for Bitcoin holders to engage with their assets.
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