Charles Hoskinson, the founder of Cardano (ADA), has unveiled an ambitious vision for the blockchain platform’s future beyond the Voltaire era, or what has been called Cardano 2.0.
Hoskinson’s presentation, delivered from Argentina earlier this week, highlighted Cardano’s journey from its inception to its current state and outlined a comprehensive roadmap for the years leading up to 2030.
Hoskinson began by reflecting on Cardano’s origins, sharing that it has been seven years since the project’s inception. He recalled a pivotal moment at the Tokyo Institute of Technology, where, feeling exhausted late at night, he created a whiteboard video discussing what would soon become the Cardano network.
He then outlined his vision for the platform as it moves past the Voltaire era, the concluding stage of Cardano’s development roadmap. Notably, the various phases of Cardano, referred to as “eras,” draw inspiration from notable figures in literature and technology, such as Lord Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Joseph Goguen, Matsuo Bashō, and Voltaire.
The first three eras laid the groundwork for essential components of the blockchain, including its foundational structure, decentralization, and the integration of smart contracts. The Basho era is focused on improving the platform’s scalability, while the final Voltaire era aims to implement governance features, voting systems, and treasury management within the Cardano ecosystem.
According to Hoskinson, the roadmap post-Voltaire focuses on several key areas: scalability, interoperability, and sustainability. He emphasized the importance of creating a system that can handle billions of users while maintaining decentralization and security. He then introduced the concept of “partner chains,” allowing Cardano to scale horizontally and accommodate diverse use cases.
One of the most significant developments Hoskinson discussed was Ouroboros Leios, a new consensus protocol designed to improve Cardano’s performance dramatically.
“Leios is as fast as a system can get,” Hoskinson explained, “and what’s so cool about this is that we took years and years and years building up many different foundational structures to put all these pieces together in just the right way.”
The presentation also highlighted the importance of on-chain governance in Cardano’s future.
“We launched some of the semblances of governance with a program and project called Catalyst… and that turned on a governance muscle that we as an ecosystem were able to leverage and create an entire on-chain government called Voltaire.” Hoskinson stated.
Looking ahead to 2025, Hoskinson announced the launch of Midnight, a privacy-focused partner chain for Cardano. He described it as “computational privacy, private smart contracts, and it’s also about selective disclosure.” This development aims to address the growing need for privacy in blockchain applications while maintaining the benefits of a public ledger.
That said, Hoskinson concluded with a bold vision for Cardano’s potential impact, noting, “I believe we can run a nation-state on Cardano by 2030, and not a small one [but] one with tens of millions of people.” He emphasized the importance of community involvement in shaping Cardano’s future, announcing plans for a constitutional convention and a referendum on the project’s roadmap.