Cardano co-founder Charles Hoskinson has dismissed rumors suggesting that the network’s Hydra Layer-2 scaling project had been abandoned.
In a statement on March 18, the IOHK chief executive clarified that developers had not given up on the project, labeling the rumors as “pure FUD” (Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt).
“I’m seeing some videos claiming that Hydra has been abandoned,” Hoskinson stated on X, before reaffirming, “It is just pure FUD.”
I'm seeing some videos claiming that Hydra has been abandoned. It is just pure FUD. The team has never been more productive and motivated, there is great community engagement and new papers on the way for enhancements to the protocol. If you are ever curious about the project go…
— Charles Hoskinson (@IOHK_Charles) March 16, 2024
Hydra, a Cardano-based protocol launched in May 2023, aims to enhance transaction processing capacity and reduce transaction costs on the Cardano blockchain. It is considered a crucial component of Cardano’s roadmap under the “Basho” phase, focusing on scalability.
The rumors emerged after a video uploaded by YouTube channel The Cryptoviser on March 17 claimed that Cardano had “pivoted away from Hydra.” This was based on an announcement by Hoskinson regarding an integration with Hyperledger Firefly, a scaling solution for building and scaling Web3 applications, on March 13.
In response to the speculation, Hoskinson reassured his followers on X that the Cardano development team remained highly productive and motivated. He emphasized ongoing community engagement and teased new papers on enhancements to the protocol.
This isn’t the first time Hoskinson has addressed “FUD” surrounding Hydra. In October, he defended the project against criticism over network scaling, emphasizing Hydra’s role as a transaction-per-transaction system rather than a throughput-focused one.
On Hydra Scaling https://t.co/u5tl7FBI9A
— Charles Hoskinson (@IOHK_Charles) October 5, 2023
Hoskinson reiterated that Hydra had evolved to provide middleware for developers to build decentralized applications (DApps) for Cardano.
On March 18, amidst what he called a “wave of FUD,” Hoskinson defended Cardano’s collaboration with digital ID platform World Mobile and its scaling roadmap, attributing the rumors to a phase in the cycle where speculation increases about Cardano’s potential.
Man, it's raining FUD this weekend, and I'm not sure about the origin. I guess it's that time of the cycle where everyone freaks out about Cardano's potential and roadmap, so they throw a wave of FUD at us.
With respect to World Mobile, the goals of their project require the…
— Charles Hoskinson (@IOHK_Charles) March 17, 2024
Despite facing skepticism, Cardano has seen growth in decentralized finance (DeFi) total value locked (TVL), reaching an all-time high of $520 million on March 14, according to DeFiLlama.
However, the network still lags behind competitors Ethereum, Tron, BNB Smart Chain, and Solana, which collectively boast a TVL of $72 billion.
