Cardano Founder to Input Output Critic, ‘Glad To Be Putting in the Midnight Oil’

Some community members believe IO is not doing enough.

The blockchain community can sometimes be harsh, especially for developers, as community members are often impatient to see results. At times as well, this dissatisfaction is warranted.

In recent weeks, dcSpark – an independent development team focused on Cardano, Algorand, and Mina – has ramped up development efforts on the Cardano chain. As reported during the week, the team revealed plans to introduce account abstraction to the blockchain. In addition, yesterday, the team revealed a new product to enable developers to build a Cardano wallet quickly called Wallet OneBox.

Creating a Cardano wallet is a lot of work. But what if it didn't have to be?

Years went into all the open source tools used by Flint Wallet (@FlintWallet)

And with help from txpipe(@txpipe_tools), we're now giving it all to you in one easy-to-use box

Introducing Wallet OneBox pic.twitter.com/nKBMNzWD9n

— dcSpark (@dcspark_io) March 31, 2023

While the efforts are worth celebrating and have attracted commendation from Input Output (IO) chief and Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson, they have also led to unintended outcomes. Some community members have now drawn comparisons between IO and dcSparks, with one such comment eliciting a response from Hoskinson.

“I predict in 7 or more years, the development of the main protocol will be done by the innovative companies like @dcspark_io,” Sushi Master (@sushi_mast3r) tweeted. “And IOG will be stigmatized as a failed entity, together with CH [Charles Hoskinson].”

“Glad to be putting in the midnight oil,” Hoskinson said in response, simultaneously highlighting and dismissing the comments.

Glad to be putting in the midnight oil https://t.co/1ROROkFYmA

— Charles Hoskinson (@IOHK_Charles) April 1, 2023

For context, it is worth noting that IO – the primary team responsible for Cardano research and development – has built a reputation for being slow in development. Some have attributed this to the team’s focus on peer-reviewed research, which has drawn criticism from competitors in the past. Nonetheless, an argument for IO’s professed focus on getting things right is that the blockchain has proven to be more dependable than most.

Nico Arqueros, a dcSpark team member responding to the recent Twitter exchange, dismissed the pseudonymous community member’s assertions. According to Arqueros, dcSpark received support from Hoskinson and IO.

“No idea where this is coming from but IOG will be around for a while, and if @dcspark_io success is going to be partially thanks to the support from Charles and IOG,” he tweeted.

No idea where this is coming from but IOG will be around for a while and if @dcspark_io success is going to be partially thanks to the support from Charles and IOG ??

— nicoarq (@NicoArqueros) April 1, 2023

Despite criticisms from some quarters in the community, IO released a network upgrade as recently as February that is touted to have made the development of cross-chain applications easier. Apart from several other projects, developers are currently focused on preparing the network for a new era of decentralized governance that will make it self-sustaining. The Age of Voltaire is the final phase in IO’s Cardano roadmap.