Cardano founder defends ADA progress as critics question liquidity

What happened

Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson defended the network after a community member questioned whether years of development had produced enough liquidity and on-chain use. He asked: "What the hell else can I do?"

The exchange began after one community member accused him of hurting ADA holders by launching Midnight as a separate network. He rejected that argument, noting that NIGHT itself was issued on Cardano.

Another critic compared him to a "used car salesman" and pointed to weak liquidity, stablecoins and DEX volume. That critic also said Hoskinson blames ADA holders rather than developers when the ecosystem struggles.

Hoskinson answered with a list of work he said had moved forward this year. It included RealFi, Pogun, Midnight, Midnight.city and the Pentad, which he said brought LayerZero, Fireblock, Pyth, Circle and other integrations to Cardano.

Why it matters

The dispute is about whether Cardano's pipeline of launches is turning into value for ADA holders. One report describes a gap between the network's expanding activity and ADA's market performance.

The reported figures give that debate a benchmark. The claim that Cardano has no stablecoin presence or DEX activity is not accurate on the numbers, which include about $67.2 million in stablecoins alongside DeFi TVL.

Not every item on the list has landed. Pogun's 12.29 million ADA treasury request failed to secure enough support in September.

What the data shows

One report puts Cardano's DeFi TVL at about $68.3 million and its stablecoins at $67.2 million. It says DEXs processed about $4.05 million over 24 hours and $41 million over seven days, with weekly volume up 133%. The network also recorded roughly 18,964 active addresses and 34,905 transactions over 24 hours.

A second report, citing DeFiLlama, puts DeFi TVL at roughly $70.78 million and stablecoin liquidity at about $67.2 million. It reports DEX volume of around $4.36 million over 24 hours and $42 million over seven days, with weekly activity up 139%, plus approximately 15,985 active addresses.

Background

RealFi went live on Cardano mainnet on Oct. 1 after months of public testing. Midnight launched its network in March, and NIGHT had already launched as a Cardano Native Asset in December 2025. Midnight.city runs in open beta as an AI-focused application tied to the wider Midnight ecosystem.

Pogun is described as a Bitcoin-focused DeFi project covering credit, yield and bridging. Its treasury request for 12.29 million ADA failed to secure enough support in September, though Hoskinson has continued to say the project is moving ahead.

On infrastructure, USDCx and Pyth have gone live, LayerZero is being rolled out in phases, and Fireblocks announced plans to add full support for Cardano Native Tokens.

What is still unclear

• The two reports give different DeFi TVL figures, $68.3 million and $70.78 million, and different 24-hour DEX volumes, $4.05 million and $4.36 million.
• The reports do not give ADA's price, so the weak price performance cited in the criticism is not quantified in the data provided.
• It is not clear whether Pogun will win treasury support later, because its 12.29 million ADA request failed in September while Hoskinson says work continues.

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