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Hoskinson Counters Misinformation on Cardano Staking: ‘Stake Isn’t Locked’
- Charles Hoskinson dismisses claims of Cardano’s inflated market cap, emphasising that ADA staking is liquid, not locked.
- Cardano’s liquid staking allows ADA to be traded or used in DeFi without the need for derivatives.
- Liquid staking aligns with the original vision of self-custody and does not involve slashing risks.
- Recent updates and developments, like deploying the ASI token, signal increased activity and adoption for Cardano.
Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson has responded to claims that Cardano’s high market cap is artificially inflated due to investors being locked into ADA holdings and unable to sell.
The claims were made by MartyParty during a podcast, which also featured InvestAnswers, CTO Larsson and Mando. MartyParty argued that the market cap reflected locked staking pools rather than true value.
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Hoskinson of course wouldn’t have any of it, calling out the “lies and misinformation” around Cardano, saying “stake isn’t locked”.
Liquid Staking vs. ‘Traditional Staking’
Basically, liquid staking means that ADA tokens are not locked up – hence the term ‘liquid’ – and can be used for trading and other DeFi activities. There’s also no need for LSDs (Liquid Staking Derivatives) and LSTs (Liquid Staking Tokens) with Cardano.
With more ‘traditional’ staking, tokens are locked up and can’t be used for any other purposes. Assets are in essence frozen to participate in network security and governance.
User StakeWithPride commented on the relevance of liquid staking, which means true self-custody in the sense Bitcoin’s enigmatic founder Satoshi Nakamoto had on his (or her) mind:
Liquid staking also means self-custody (like Satoshi wanted). Staked coins don’t leave your wallet, and can be spent anytime or used in DeFi. That also means no slashing.
@StakeWithPride via X Hoskinson’s beef is with the false statement that the market cap is high because ADA owners are unable to sell due to lock-up periods, which is obviously not the case.
According to data from stakingrewards, currently 63% of ADA is staked, making it one of the most staked cryptocurrencies. 22.6 billion coins are currently staked out of a max supply of 45 billion with a current circulating supply of 35.9 billion as per CoinMarketCap.
Activity Around Cardano Increases Post Update
Cardano, often called a ghost-chain and criticised for its slow development, has recently seen an upgrade to make it more decentralised. This so-called Chang upgrade is a first step in the Voltaire epoch, which should lead to full decentralisation.
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Development and activity around Cardano are slowly but surely increasing too. Recently Ben Goertzel’s SingularityNET and Artificial Superintelligence Alliance deployed the ASI token on Cardano, replacing the AGIX token.
According to Goertzel, Cardano was the network of choice for its security, speed and low cost as well as its “mathematical elegance”.
Meanwhile, the price of ADA is on the way up, gaining almost 10% from last week. CoinMarketCap has the price for one ADA at US$0.35 (AU$0.52) at the time of writing.
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Author
Aaron Feuerstein
Aaron Feuerstein is a freelance writer based in Melbourne. His focus is on decentralised finance and the regulatory space surrounding blockchain. He holds a Master's in Accounting. When he is not studying the latest legal case, he enjoys his time as a modest but eager hobby cook.
