Cardano founder Charles is setting his sights on a future where DeFi expands beyond ETH and SOL, reaching deep into the Bitcoin and XRP ecosystems.
According to him, this convergence could unlock a billion-dollar opportunity, and ADA could be the bridge that connects them all.

Speaking at Consensus 2025 in Toronto, Cardano’s (ADA) founder, Charles Hoskinson, delivered a keynote that captured the attention of developers and investors. But it was during a follow-up interview with Bitcoin.com’s Frederick Munanwa that he laid out his vision for where DeFi is headed.

“It’s going to be Bitcoin DeFi, and it’s going to be real-world assets. Those are the two things that are just going to be huge,” Hoskinson said, describing the next frontier of blockchain innovation. He said that Bitcoin DeFi, in particular, is a sleeping giant, one that could surpass even Ethereum (ETH) and Solana (SOL) in terms of impact.

Currently, data from DeFiLlama shows Bitcoin DeFi holding around $6.6 billion in total value locked (TVL). That’s still behind Solana at $9.35 billion and Ethereum, which dominates with $63.93 billion in TVL. Still, Hoskinson believes these numbers can change.

Hoskinson explained that upgrades like Bitcoin’s Taproot are unlocking new capabilities, paving the way for smart contracts and scalable DeFi. But to fully realize that potential, Bitcoin needs companion networks. That’s where Cardano comes in.

“You need companion compute layers like Stacks or Cardano… to run all those transactions that are secured by Bitcoin,” he said. “Cardano is moving aggressively into that space, and because of our design, we have built-in advantages there.” He pointed to the architectural similarities between Cardano and Bitcoin as a key advantage. Both use the Unspent Transaction Output (UTXO) model, unlike Ethereum’s account-based system, allowing for more efficient, parallel transaction processing.

“Their UTXO, we’re UTXO,” Hoskinson explained. “The way that we’ve written Cardano, how assets are issued, is very similar to how they do colored coins on Bitcoin.” Colored coins were one of the earliest attempts at Bitcoin to represent assets other than BTC. Cardano takes that foundational idea further by offering a more robust native asset framework.

Hoskinson also drew comparisons between Bitcoin’s Lightning Network and Cardano’s Hydra—both layer-2 solutions built to scale transactions off-chain. “These things are like extensions of what started with Bitcoin,” he said. “It’s just what Bitcoin would have been if they could upgrade.”

Hoskinson Wants XRP DeFi on Cardano

Hoskinson expanded the idea to include Ripple’s XRP Ledger (XRPL), which currently lacks native smart contract capabilities. “We have a very strong relationship with XRP and I’d like to see DeFi on Cardano because it’s like over $140 billion of value,” Hoskinson said. “They don’t have smart contracts.”

The idea is bold. To enable smart contract functionality for XRP users by integrating the XRPL with Cardano’s infrastructure. This would allow XRP holders and developers to participate in DeFi without having to migrate entirely to Ethereum or other smart contract chains.

At the time of writing, Cardano (ADA) is trading at around $0.7562, reflecting a modest dip of 2.66% over the past 24 hours. Still, market sentiment appears optimistic. The U.S. SEC is expected to make a decision by May 29 on whether to approve the Grayscale Cardano ETF, a move that could open the gates for institutional investment in ADA.

According to recent estimates, the odds of approval have climbed to 71%. With a daily trading volume of $644 million and a market cap sitting at $26 billion, ADA’s numbers suggest that investors are simply waiting to see how things unfold.

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Filed under: Bitcoin - @ May 28, 2025 11:25 am