Cardano Foundation Clarifies Its Role Amid Community Concerns
In a recent move to address growing community inquiries, the Cardano Foundation has publicly clarified its mission and recent actions. This follows a series of criticisms from Charles Hoskinson. The Foundation’s latest forum post, dated August 26, elaborates on its core duties related to Cardano’s infrastructure, its decentralized governance role, and the legal framework of its board. Interestingly, while these issues are touched upon, Hoskinson’s specific allegations remain unaddressed.
Foundation’s Imperative Contributions
The Foundation emphasizes that much of its significant work remains unseen by everyday users but is indispensable for exchanges and custodians. According to the post, “The Cardano Foundation plays a critical ongoing role in maintaining essential components used by exchanges and custody providers.” The services highlighted include GraphQL, a high-performance Java implementation of Rosetta powered by Yaci Store, the reference cardano-wallet, and the Token Registry API, which supports CIP-26 and CIP-68 metadata, all integrated into GraphQL for enhanced performance.
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The Foundation also mentions its public Token Registry API and the collaborative efforts of its Core Integrations, Engineering, and Exchange Relationships teams with market venues since 2021, aimed at streamlining ADA and native-token onboarding processes.
Stance on Token Integration Funding
On the contentious issue of funding for new listings and token integrations, the Foundation has decided not to finance specific Cardano Native Token integrations. The rationale is that such actions would create “winners” and “losers” within the ecosystem, which contradicts its mandate and could lead to a skewed ecosystem landscape.
Role in Governance and Community Engagement
The Foundation reaffirms its commitment to on-chain governance, especially following the introduction of constitutional governance this year. It serves as an Intersect Constitutional Committee (ICC) member and a DRep, with a live stake of nearly ₳233 million across 331 delegators. Addressing concerns over stake concentration, it states that ₳140 million from its genesis ADA has been delegated to community-builder and developer DReps.
Further, the Foundation points to its educational resources, a DRep voting tool, governance flowcharts, and its role in hard-fork coordination as evidence of its dedication to empowering the community in on-chain decision-making.
The Historical Context
The timing of this clarification isn’t coincidental. On August 22, Hoskinson took to an unplanned AMA to express his dissatisfaction with the Foundation, especially concerning the distribution of Midnight’s NIGHT token and the Foundation’s claimed rights over it. Defending his decision to restrict the airdrop, he maintained, “We built it. It’s my money. We can do whatever the hell we want to do,” justifying the restriction as a risk management measure consistent with the airdrop’s terms.
Hoskinson also criticized the Foundation for missing opportunities and not adequately supporting the ecosystem. His discontent partly stems from his earlier suggestion to relocate the Foundation from Switzerland to a jurisdiction allowing community-elected board members. He argued that the Swiss supervisory framework, although legal, limits accountability to token holders.
In response, the Foundation has consistently countered these claims with detailed process narratives and disclosures. However, the community’s demand for more transparency remains strong, with some calling for board elections and a shift toward community-driven governance.
Current Market Standing
At the time of writing, ADA was trading at $0.86, maintaining its position above the red zone.
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