The momentum is almost tipping over for the proposed upgrade on the largest proof-of-stake blockchain, Cardano. The upgrade tagged ‘Alonzo’ will mark the end of the Goguen era for Cardano, and will also introduce smart contract capabilities- a major attraction- to the blockchain. Since the launch date for Alonzo’s mainnet was announced, native cryptocurrency of the blockchain, ADA has been setting and breaking records as it heads towards a record high of $3 based on speculations.
ADA closed last week at an initial high of $2.55, which it has already surpassed into the new week. In the penultimate week of August, ADA has clinched a high of $2.98, stirring the interest of institutional investors and almost grazing the predicted $3 price mark. While ADA’s price has responded positively to the announced date for the launch of Alonzo Hard fork, some members of the Cardano community have faulted the delay on the project.
Hoskinson Stresses Dangers of First-to-Market Approach
In the weeks leading to the start of testnets for Alonzo, Cardano’s creator, Charles Hoskinson had warned that the upgrade could take longer than anticipated since himself and the team were more concerned about rolling out an upgrade devoid of bugs and other significant issues. Despite this assurance, a number of critics have spared no words in tagging Cardano a ‘fake’ project. In light of this, Hoskinson outlined factors responsible for the project’s ‘slow pace.’
In a YouTube session, Hoskinson addressed one of the major challenges that new projects in the space encounter. He noted that a lot of projects had collapsed because they prioritized speed over direction, given that they wanted to be the first in the market. The Cardano founder does not want Alonzo to be a ‘white elephant’ project.
Hoskinson added that the first-to-market approach has always boomerang, especially for emerging innovations. As such, there was no need for the controversy trailing the Alonzo upgrade, said Hoskinson. According to the Cardano founder, this was the case of a DeFi protocol, Poly Network, which was recently the target of a $600 million exploit. Hoskinson argued the Poly Network incident was a pointer to the dangers of the first-to-market approach.
Crypto Projects Are in the Pond Next to an Ocean, Says Hoskinson
As the global crypto community prepares for Alonzo’s mainnet launch and the proposed 2022 release of ETH 2.0, a Proof-of-Stake version, several projects have emerged trying to outdo one another. During his YouTube session, Hoskinson likened this to a tiny pond, in which most crypto projects are struggling for relevance. He also asserted that this pond was next to an ocean and no project had an upper hand yet.
Hoskinson ended the session with comments on the prevalence of meme or shitcoins in the market, while citing popular meme token, Dogecoin as an apt example. In his words:
“Is the crypto-space filling up with people who want immediate progress, despite the cost? Maybe. Even so, the shelf-life of a strong, community-centric project is much higher than a fast fashion-like cryptocurrency.”
