Cardano Founder Hoskinson Sets New Goal to Boost DeFi on Bitcoin

Charles Hoskinson, the founder of the decentralized blockchain platform Cardano, has revealed that he has a new goal of powering decentralized finance (DeFi) on the Bitcoin network by pushing for the development of an ecosystem of hybrid applications on the blockchain.

In a Tuesday tweet, Hoskinson said he would contact some very old friends so they could talk about steps to boost the DeFi ecosystem on Bitcoin. He commended Bitcoin developers who executed the Taproot upgrade, which enhanced the network’s privacy, scalability, and smart contract capabilities.

Just a brief reminder, having been around for a very long time and having read a lot of the early source code for Bitcoin, it’s easy for me to get back into the mindset of Bitcoin’s design and purpose.

It’s like a childhood friend that I lost touch with and re-discovered. I…

— Charles Hoskinson (@IOHK_Charles) November 26, 2024

Boosting DeFi on Bitcoin

According to the Cardano founder, the vision of creating an active DeFi ecosystem on Bitcoin should only require a user to spend bitcoin (BTC) to make it happen. 

Since Cardano has implemented the Babel fee mechanism, which allows users to pay transaction fees with tokens other than the network’s native asset ADA, Hoskinson believes Cardano can facilitate the manifestation of the vision on Bitcoin.

“It’s like a childhood friend that I lost touch with and re-discovered. I rather like the idea of Bitcoin finally having a DeFi layer and returning to innovation prominence. Cardano is part of this story,” the Cardano founder added.

Backlash From the Community

Hoskinson has long advocated for building DeFi applications on Bitcoin despite backlash from some crypto community members. Some Bitcoin supporters, known as maximalists, have criticized the Cardano founder for creating an alternative cryptocurrency, questioning his stance on the leading digital asset.

However, Hoskinson insists that he respects Bitcoin and has even led Cardano’s developer, Input Output Global (IOG), to integrate a bridge connecting both networks. About a month ago, Cardano announced that it was connecting with the BitcoinOS (BOS) Grail Bridge to pave the way for interoperability between the two ecosystems. 

Through the BOS Grail Bridge, Bitcoin users can access Cardano’s smart contracts and DeFi applications without intermediaries.

Noteworthily, the BitcoinOS team just announced a presale for the chain’s native token, BOS, and crypto community members have reacted to the news, raising concerns about the move being a liquidity extraction stunt from the developers.