In a February 19 livestream, Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson said the network’s hard fork is expected next month and that the Leios scalability initiative remains on track for this year. He framed the next weeks as a convergence point for two parallel roadmaps: Cardano’s protocol and developer-stack upgrades, alongside the Midnight network launch set for next month.
Hoskinson highlighted LayerZero integration connecting Cardano to more than 80 blockchains, a move aimed at moving Cardano away from isolation. He also discussed USDCx—described as a stablecoin-like asset designed for non-EVM systems—and described autoconvert as a user-experience improvement to move value straight to and back from exchanges. He distinguished USDCx from basically USDC, saying the asset preserves privacy and can’t be frozen, which he described as the best compromise for a tier-one stablecoin in Cardano’s ecosystem. LayerZero could open the door to eight major stablecoins over time, depending on integration sequencing.
The near-term timing signal came when Hoskinson stated that Cardano’s hard fork is happening next month. He also said Leios remains on track and noted progress from changes in Plutus, Aiken, and node diversity planned for this year. He flagged a Dev Builder Fest in Argentina in March and the integration of Pyth into the ecosystem, which he described as the arrival of a tier-one Oracle for Cardano. Beyond shipping timelines, Hoskinson argued that the industry’s central fight is shifting from enforcement actions to culture and narrative around non-custodial wallets and permissionless settlement, warning against factions seeking to route crypto transactions through permission federated networks owned and operated by large financial institutions.
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