Charles Haskinson Teases USD1 on Cardano to Boost Liquidity

TLDR

Table of Contents

USD1 stablecoin has a $2.6B market cap and $859M daily volume on Solana.
Cardano’s stablecoin market cap is only $38.1M, led by Djed at $26.41M.
Hoskinson blames Cardano Foundation for missing key network integrations.
Talks are ongoing with World Liberty Financial to bring USD1 to Cardano.

Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson has revealed that he is working on bringing the USD1 stablecoin to the Cardano blockchain. The move comes as Cardano continues to trail behind other Layer-1 networks in terms of stablecoin adoption. The introduction of a highly liquid stablecoin could help improve ADA’s use across DeFi and trading platforms while boosting overall liquidity in the ecosystem.

Talks Underway with World Liberty Financial

In a recent AMA session, Charles Hoskinson confirmed ongoing discussions with World Liberty Financial (WLFI) to integrate the USD1 stablecoin on Cardano. USD1, which is pegged to the US dollar, is backed by WLFI, a company reportedly linked to Donald Trump. The stablecoin has already launched on Solana and has a market cap of around $2.6 billion, with a daily trading volume of nearly $859 million.

Hoskinson stated, “We did talk to the Witkoffs about it. I think JJ can land that deal. He’s talking with them.” He pointed out that the deal would need to be timed and executed carefully. A successful integration would allow users on the Cardano network to transact with a liquid and recognized stablecoin, which is currently missing from its DeFi space.

Cardano has struggled with onboarding stablecoins like Tether (USDT) and Circle’s USDC directly. Though bridges like WanChain allow some movement of these assets, adoption has been limited. The network’s current stablecoin market cap stands at $38.1 million, with the algorithmic Djed stablecoin leading at $26.41 million locked.

Criticism of the Cardano Foundation

Hoskinson also addressed growing dissatisfaction with the Cardano Foundation (CF) over its failure to secure essential network partnerships. He expressed concern that the CF has not taken enough action to support integrations with projects like Chainlink and LayerZero. According to Hoskinson, the responsibility for such integrations has fallen on IOHK and the Midnight Foundation, which have had to bear the costs.

He explained that issues with the Swiss government led to major operational changes within CF, which resulted in funds being locked and slowed the foundation’s progress. “We’ve had years of conflict,” Hoskinson said. Despite this, he emphasized that efforts are still ongoing to ensure Cardano catches up to networks like Ethereum, which has over $91 billion in total value locked and a stablecoin market worth approximately $150 billion.

Expanding Outreach and DeFi Connections

Hoskinson also shared updates on wider network integration plans. He mentioned the upcoming rollout of the RLUSD stablecoin and new support for XRP within the Lace wallet. Additionally, Cardano will include holders of BTC, ETH, SOL, XRP, AVAX, BNB, and BAT in its Midnight airdrop through the distribution of NIGHT tokens.

These moves reflect a broader strategy to build connections with other blockchain communities while increasing Cardano’s presence in the decentralized finance space. Bringing USD1 to Cardano would represent a step forward in that direction, potentially giving developers and users more stable liquidity options.

Cardano’s lack of strong stablecoin infrastructure has been a key obstacle in scaling its DeFi ecosystem. The integration of USD1 could provide the foundation needed to attract more applications and users.

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