Hoskinson says Cardano can adapt faster than Bitcoin to quantum risks
Ark Invest’s Lorenzo Valente attacked Cardano after Charles Hoskinson said Bitcoin is “frozen in time”; the dispute followed Cardano’s July 18, 2026 Van Rossem hard fork under decentralized governance.
Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson said a potential quantum-computing threat could test Bitcoin’s ability to coordinate upgrades, arguing Bitcoin is “frozen in time” while Cardano’s onchain governance would let the network vote on responses such as migrating quantum-vulnerable infrastructure. Ark Invest research director Lorenzo Valente responded on X by calling Cardano irrelevant and saying the industry’s continued focus on it hurts crypto’s credibility. The exchange came days after Cardano activated the Van Rossem hard fork on July 18, 2026, moving to Protocol Version 11 in what was described as its first hard fork carried out fully through decentralized governance under the Voltaire era. Hoskinson also said Cardano is preparing what he described as its biggest upgrade yet, one he said would make the network 60 times faster. ADA was cited at $0.1633, down 3.48% over 24 hours, with a market capitalization of about $5.96 billion and 24-hour volume of $209.9 million, while Bitcoin was valued at roughly $1.3 trillion.
- onchain governance: A system that lets blockchain participants make or ratify decisions directly through the network.
- quantum-vulnerable infrastructure: Blockchain systems or addresses that could be exposed if quantum computers become powerful enough to break current cryptography.
- Van Rossem hard fork: Cardano’s July 18, 2026 protocol upgrade to Version 11, described as its first hard fork executed fully through decentralized governance.