Charles Hoskinson mentioned Cardano is monitoring towards a tough fork “subsequent month,” whereas the long-discussed Leios scalability work stays on schedule for “this yr,” in a Feb. 19 livestream recorded after a visit by way of Japan and a cease at Consensus in Hong Kong.
Hoskinson framed the subsequent few weeks as a convergence level for 2 parallel roadmaps: Cardano’s protocol and developer-stack upgrades on one aspect, and the Midnight community launch he expects “coming subsequent month” on the opposite, an effort he described as unusually tough to execute even for groups with prior expertise delivery main chains.
Cardano Momentum: Midnight, LayerZero And USDCx
Within the livestream, Hoskinson spent his opening stretch recapping what he characterised as a productive Consensus week, pointing to “quite a lot of nice bulletins” and relationships across the Midnight ecosystem, together with infrastructure and distribution names he mentioned had been concerned with the community. He argued that the flexibility to launch a big, exchange-listed mission like Midnight is itself a sign about Cardano’s maturity as a platform for “tier one” efforts.
On the Cardano aspect, he highlighted a newly introduced LayerZero integration that he mentioned connects Cardano “to greater than 80 blockchains,” positioning it as a step away from the notion that the community operates in isolation. In the identical section, Hoskinson pointed to USDCx as a stablecoin-like asset he mentioned is designed for “these non-EVM programs,” and emphasised the user-experience work round alternate flows—“autoconvert,” as he described it, so customers can transfer worth “straight to the alternate, straight again from the alternate.”
He additionally drew a distinction between USDCx and “mainly USDC,” saying the tradeoff for Cardano customers is an asset that, in his telling, preserves “privateness” and “can’t be frozen.” Hoskinson positioned that as “one of the best compromise” obtainable for a “tier one stablecoin of that nature” within the Cardano ecosystem, whereas arguing that the LayerZero integration may open the door to “eight main stablecoins” over time, relying on integration sequencing.
Arduous Fork ‘Subsequent Month,’ Leios ‘This Yr’
Essentially the most concrete near-term timing sign got here when Hoskinson addressed the protocol schedule immediately, saying: “Cardano onerous fork is occurring I consider subsequent month. However you recognize the neighborhood is sort of working its manner by way of that and getting this stuff achieved.”
In the identical breath, he reiterated that Leios, Cardano’s scalability initiative, stays on monitor, noting current journey and discussions with product supervisor Michael Smolenski about progress. “All issues thought of we’re fairly proud of the speed of progress of Cardano,” Hoskinson mentioned, whereas additionally pointing to a brand new Plutus model, continued growth of Aiken, and “node range coming this yr,” alongside Leios.
Hoskinson additionally flagged developer exercise he expects in March, referencing a “Dev Builder Fest down in Argentina” and describing the “integration of Pyth” into the ecosystem, which he introduced because the arrival of a “tier one Oracle” for Cardano.
Past delivery timelines, Hoskinson used the livestream to argue that the trade’s central combat is shifting from enforcement actions to tradition and narrative, notably round non-custodial wallets and permissionless settlement. He warned about what he known as “factions” that need crypto transactions routed by way of “permission federated networks owned and operated by massive monetary establishments,” and singled out US coverage debates as a part of that backdrop.
“What’s not okay is to construct a community that’s endlessly owned and operated by 5 or 10 or 20 banks and so they mainly lord and leverage that energy and place over the customers,” he mentioned. “And as soon as they’ve absolute management, they simply merely flip a swap and also you’re at their mercy and so they personal all of your cash. And sadly, the system is shifting in that route proper now.”
At press time, ADA traded at $0.2748.

Featured picture from YouTube, chart from TradingView.com

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