Cardano CEO Charles Hoskinson recently said that he has strong doubts about the future of Bitcoin.
“Bitcoin needs the industry to survive, and it certainly needs exchanges and all the other infrastructure because it is not self-sufficient at that size,” Hoskinson said.
He compared this situation to the overall cryptocurrency ecosystem, which he believes no longer needs Bitcoin to thrive. “The industry no longer needs Bitcoin to survive,” he said.
While Hoskinson acknowledged that Bitcoin has a reputation as “digital gold,” he noted that it remains a token with a fundamentally deflationary monetary policy. He argued that new digital assets with solid scientific foundations could replace Bitcoin and offer equal or greater security. “At any time, another digital gold could form, and if there is a good scientific basis behind it, it will be just as safe, if not more,” he said.
Referring to the development of Cardano, Hoskinson said that a meticulous scientific approach was followed when designing the proof-of-stake protocol. According to the founder, Cardano's team has focused on creating a secure, energy-efficient consensus protocol for seven years.
Hoskinson stated that despite these advances, the Bitcoin community has rejected these efforts. “The response from the Bitcoin ecosystem was that this was a scam, such a technology could not exist, perpetual motion and proof-of-stake were wrong.” said.
Hoskinson compared Bitcoin's current position to Microsoft's historical dominance with Windows, noting that Windows has lost its critical market position as technology paradigms change. He warned that Bitcoin could face a similar fate if it fails to adapt.
Hoskinson expressed concerns that Bitcoin may lose importance as the industry evolves and focuses on innovations outside the Bitcoin network: “You wake up and realize 98% of what you're doing is outside of Bitcoin. And you start asking yourself, why do I really care about BTC?”
*This is not investment advice.