Cardano experienced a gradual decline on Sunday as the project’s founder addressed concerns about Input Output Global’s (IOG) ADA holdings and the overall advancement of the network’s adoption.
The founder clarified that IOG has earned its ADA through development efforts, countering claims that the holdings were received as a gift.
“No ADA was ‘given’ to IOG. We earned it all. It’s not the people’s money. It’s profit for building Cardano. The original value of IOG’s ADA was around $8 million in 2015. We’ve been here for nine years building,” he affirmed.
He contrasted IOG’s ADA holdings with those of the Cardano Foundation, which received ADA as a donation intended for ecosystem development. The remarks come amid speculation regarding IOG’s potential contributions to integrate Circle’s USDC stablecoin, a possibility that was downplayed by the founder.
Founder: ‘Dishonest people have no place at IOG’
On Saturday, the founder criticized a former Cardano Foundation employee for “rewriting history” concerning the integration of stablecoins. This critique followed criticism of the network’s progress in this domain. The founder highlighted that the foundation had previously declined an opportunity to integrate USDC for $3 million in 2021, despite having holdings valued at nearly $2 billion at the time.
“They turned down the deal according to their own employee. Then you rewrite history to eschew any of their responsibility and make it into power dynamics? I’m seriously glad you don’t work for me anymore. Dishonest people have no place at IOG,” he stated.
This controversy reveals ongoing challenges facing Cardano in its efforts for wider adoption, as major stablecoin issuers express hesitance to support the network. Concerns center around the lack of successful decentralized applications and insufficient transaction volume.
As of Sunday, Cardano was trading at approximately $0.96.
Cardano, which launched its mainnet in September 2017, is preparing for an integration with BitcoinOS, aimed at unlocking over $1.4 trillion in liquidity, while developers are also focused on the Midnight scaling project for the ecosystem.
Speculation surrounds potential regulatory developments regarding cryptocurrencies, which could favor Cardano moving forward. Enthusiasm persists within the crypto community regarding the possibilities of a spot ADA ETF being introduced in the future.
