Who Owns Cardano’s ADA?

Input Output Global (IOG) founder Charles Hoskinson has clarified that IOG’s ADA holdings are private profits and not “people’s money.” In a recent X thread, Hoskinson responded to community questions about why IOG, the Cardano Foundation (CF), and Emurgo haven’t collectively contributed ADA to support USDC integration.

Hoskinson explained that IOG’s ADA was earned as profit for building Cardano since its inception in 2015, with an initial valuation of $8 million. Unlike IOG, the Cardano Foundation received ADA as a donation, specifically intended to fund ecosystem growth initiatives.

CF Declines USDC Integration

Hoskinson revealed that the Cardano Foundation previously turned down a $3 million proposal to integrate USDC, despite holding assets worth $2 billion at the time. This decision drew criticism, with a former CF employee attributing Cardano’s slower adoption to its failure to secure major stablecoin providers.

The lack of stablecoin integration has been highlighted as a significant obstacle for Cardano’s adoption. Stablecoin issuers like Circle (USDC) and Tether (USDT) have hesitated to support Cardano, citing its limited decentralized applications (dApps) and lower transaction volume compared to competing blockchains.

Currently, USDC operates on 16 blockchain networks, including Polkadot and Hedera, with a $46 billion market cap, ranking as the eighth-largest cryptocurrency.

Cardano’s Ecosystem Challenges

Despite its aspirations to modernize global financial systems, the Cardano ecosystem faces hurdles. The Harvard International Review in 2021 praised the Cardano Foundation’s advocacy for addressing inefficiencies like high remittance costs (8%-10%), exorbitant lending rates (up to 72% annually), and inadequate insurance access in underdeveloped economies.

However, the absence of major stablecoin integrations limits Cardano’s ability to scale its ecosystem and attract broader adoption.

Bullish Outlook Amid Ecosystem Scrutiny

Recent debates around ADA token allocation for ecosystem growth have intensified scrutiny of Cardano’s progress. However, technical analysis suggests a bullish momentum for ADA in the coming weeks, despite recent price declines.

At the time of writing, ADA is trading at $0.9094, reflecting a 7.54% decrease over the past day and a 15.65% drop over the past week.

While challenges remain in scaling the Cardano ecosystem and integrating major stablecoins, Charles Hoskinson’s clarification highlights the distinct roles of IOG and the Cardano Foundation in ecosystem development. The path forward may require renewed collaboration and innovation to address these barriers and capitalize on bullish market opportunities.