“This Space Would be Worse off Without Cardano,” Flare Co-founder Supports Hoskinson’s Return

The Flare co-founder has welcomed Hoskinson on his return, suggesting that the crypto space would be worse off without Cardano.

Following Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson’s brief break from public activities and his return a few days later, Flare co-founder Hugo Philion has welcomed him back despite their recent public disagreements.

Flare Co-founder Says the Industry Benefits from Hoskinson’s Presence

Shortly after Hoskinson became active again on X, Philion shared a message expressing support for his return. 

While the two blockchain leaders have recently clashed over issues related to XRP and Bitcoin interoperability, Philion stressed that he still values Hoskinson’s contribution to the crypto industry.

The Flare co-founder explained that he had disagreed with Hoskinson over what he saw as unnecessary duplication of work involving XRP and Bitcoin interoperability.

To him, networks already have access to these capabilities through FXRP and FBTC using Layer-Zero. Despite the disagreement that ensued from his opinion, he recently admitted that the industry remains better with Hoskinson than without him.

According to Philion, the crypto space would be worse off without Hoskinson, Cardano, and Midnight.

The Disagreement That Put Both Founders at Odds

Philion’s remarks came not long after a public exchange with Hoskinson over decentralized finance and Bitcoin-focused blockchain development.

The disagreement emerged early last month when Hoskinson promoted Cardano’s efforts to make Bitcoin programmable through smart contracts. The goal is to allow Bitcoin holders to access DeFi applications, generate yield, and use a range of financial services.

In response, Philion suggested that Flare was already providing the proper solution. He then compared Flare’s progress with Cardano’s. The Flare Labs CEO pointed out that Cardano launched in 2017, giving it nearly a six-year head start over Flare, which launched in 2023. 

Despite the advantage, DeFi Llama data showed that Flare had around $159 million in total value locked at the time, while Cardano held around $132 million during the same period.

He argued that Cardano had spent years trying to follow a strategy that Flare had already built around data oracles, FAssets such as FXRP and FBTC, and a unified DeFi layer designed to support XRP, Bitcoin, XLM, real-world assets, and stablecoins. 

Hoskinson downplayed the criticism. He suggested that attacking Cardano was an outdated way to gain attention and implied that the comments merely aimed to garner publicity.

Why Hoskinson Took a Break

The exchange happened shortly before Hoskinson announced a temporary step back from public engagement.

On June 3, he posted a brief message on X saying he was taking a break and would return later. The announcement followed a video in which he openly discussed several challenges facing the Cardano ecosystem.

Hoskinson’s announcement came during a broader market downturn and was followed by a sharp decline in ADA.

The token fell around 10% shortly after his post and briefly dropped below $0.20 for the first time in more than five years. As market weakness continued, ADA later fell below $0.15.

However, Hoskinson moved to clear up speculation. During a livestream on June 4, he explained that he was not leaving Cardano. Instead, he said he was simply stepping back from videos, interviews, and frequent activity on X while taking time to reflect. 

By June 8, Hoskinson had returned to X. He hosted a broadcast focused on his view that Cardano remains the only ecosystem capable of “running the world.” His return prompted Philion’s message of support.