Charles Hoskinson defends Cardano’s progress after criticism over liquidity and usage, pointing to RealFi, Midnight, Pogun and major integrations.
Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson has defended the network’s recent buildout after a critic questioned whether years of development have produced enough liquidity and on-chain use. Pointing to a string of launches and integrations, Hoskinson asked: “What the hell else can I do?”
The exchange began after one community member accused Hoskinson of hurting ADA holders by launching Midnight as a separate network.
Hoskinson rejected that argument, noting that NIGHT itself was issued on Cardano and asking why a project built from the Cardano ecosystem should be viewed as harmful to it.
The stupidity is strong here. Apparently, launching a project on Cardano is bad for Cardano. Tell me where is night the issued. What was the first CNA to be listed on Binance? What wallets do people use to manage their night?
If this is how Cardano treats the people building on… https://t.co/j2x0TvJl63
— Charles Hoskinson (@IOHK_Charles) October 3, 2026
Another critic went further, comparing Hoskinson to a “used car salesman” and pointing to what he described as weak liquidity, stablecoins, and DEX volume.
He also accused Hoskinson of blaming ADA holders rather than developers when the ecosystem struggles.
Charles starting to sound like a used car salesman. If the cars broken, it's your problem. Low liquidity, no stablecoins, no DEX volume. $ADA holders are aways the issue with him never the DEVs. We've been taken for a ride full circle. Most people just want their money back.
— Kash_the_Kreator (@Nikkash4) October 4, 2026
Hoskinson Points to RealFi, Midnight and New Integrations
Hoskinson responded with a list of projects that have moved forward this year.
Explain what I should do differently. We just launched RealFI; Pogun is on the way; we launched Midnight; and now we have Midnight. city. We did the Pentad that brought LayerZero, Fireblock, Pyth, Circle, and other integrations to Cardano. We have Draper and Alphagrowth. All…
— Charles Hoskinson (@IOHK_Charles) October 4, 2026
RealFi went live on Cardano mainnet on Oct. 1, following months of public testing. Midnight, meanwhile, launched its network in March, while NIGHT had already launched as a Cardano Native Asset in December 2025.
Midnight.city is also operating in open beta as an AI-focused application tied to the wider Midnight ecosystem.
He also mentioned Pogun, a Bitcoin-focused DeFi project covering credit, yield and bridging. Its 12.29 million ADA treasury request failed to secure enough support in September, although Hoskinson has continued to say the project is moving ahead.
Then there is the Pentad’s infrastructure push. USDCx and Pyth have gone live, LayerZero is being rolled out in phases, and Fireblocks announced plans to add full support for Cardano Native Tokens.
Cardano Now Has to Turn Development Into Usage
This is where the criticism becomes measurable.
Cardano currently has about $68.3 million in DeFi TVL and $67.2 million in stablecoins, so the claim that it has “no stablecoins” or DEX activity is not literally accurate. DEXs processed about $4.05 million over 24 hours and $41 million over seven days, with weekly volume up 133%. The network also recorded roughly 18,964 active addresses and 34,905 transactions over 24 hours.
Those numbers show activity, but they also provide the benchmark against which Hoskinson’s recent launches can now be judged.
The Crypto Basic previously reported that Hoskinson believes RealFi could become a major driver of Cardano TVL and eventually help push it toward $1 billion. With RealFi only reaching mainnet this week, that thesis has now moved from development promises to something that can be measured against actual deposits and usage.