Charles Hoskinson triggers backlash over unfinished roadmap

Charles Hoskinson, founder of Cardano and CEO of Input Output Global (IOG), is under renewed fire from long‑time ADA holders after proclaiming that Cardano was completed.

He also noted that he had been engaged in the project since 2020 without receiving payment.

In a series of X posts and an impromptu livestream, Hoskinson argued that all contractual milestones set when the project launched in 2015 were delivered by the end of 2020.

Since then, he noted that IOG has “worked for free” on next‑generation upgrades—including Hydra, Leios, and partner projects—without guaranteed funding.

He added that future work should be financed through on‑chain treasury votes, or developers risk “leaving for cheaper jurisdictions.”

The controversy sparked in the Cardano landscape 

Hoskinson stated that since 2020, he has been working for free and claimed he was passionate about Cardano.

He added that scaling according to the original roadmap had been completed and was evolving into a moving target. Based on his argument, the IOG was currently developing cutting-edge scaling solutions like Hydra and Leios.

Moreover, Hoskinson stated that the initial roadmap completed in 2020 promised scalability to compete with leading blockchains. Furthermore, Hydra specifically sought to make parallel transaction processing possible.

This could significantly increase Cardano’s throughput compared to its current transactions per second (TPS) and bring it up to par with Solana’s theoretical 65,000 TPS.

However, without reliable funding, these projects might be at risk. Hoskinson mentioned that they might leave for other opportunities if they do not get funding. The statement caused a stir and drew harsh criticism from longtime community members.

Despite all these promises for development in Cardano space, Community members contend that Cardano still did not meet the requirements for widespread adoption of its third-generation blockchain.

“I mean this respectfully: How was the contract completed if scaling wasn’t fully delivered as per the roadmap?” one user challenged.

Another user claimed that Basho, Leois, and Hydra had not yet been implemented on the mainnet despite being discussed. Additionally, the user questioned how Cardano had fully been completed. Following the users’ argument, those components were obviously absent.

In the meantime, there were more general issues with Cardano’s funding and governance model. According to Hoskinson, IOG would not operate for free or at a loss.

Hoskinson criticizes low-cost development bids

Hoskinson criticized the community’s efforts to decentralize decision-making, especially the notion of holding competitive bids for development projects. He gave a reason for claiming that this kept Western developers at a disadvantage in expensive areas.

Moreover, Hoskinson further illustrated that supporting such a model might force the IOG to create development centers in less expensive regions like Eastern Europe or India or to fire employees.

He highlighted,  “…I’m also not going to lay off hundreds of employees and replace them with low-cost developers to compete with low-cost bids like most companies do. We are not a time and material firm. We build cryptocurrencies.” 

In addition, Hoskinson had previously criticized the governance structure of the Cardano Foundation. According to reports from sources, he claimed it ignored the ADA community and advocated for a membership-based organization shift.

Reports had also revealed that this was not the first dispute in the Cardano landscape. Debates over budget allocation and divergent opinions on the recently proposed Cardano constitution had been among the other previous conflicts.

Following this, the foundation stated that it was willing to support the new constitution; however, it cautioned about budget approvals, stating that more research was necessary.

Whether Hoskinson’s remarks were a blunt legal clarification or his own goal, the episode highlights Cardano’s growing pains as it transitions from a founder‑led roadmap to a community‑governed future.

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