Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson has shared a clear and hopeful vision for where he wants to see Cardano by the year 2030. In a recent discussion with Sujal Jethwani, he talked about Cardano’s progress so far and what still needs to be done to make it one of the most widely used and trusted blockchains in the world. His main focus was on adoption, governance, and privacy, three areas he believes will define Cardano’s future.
Cardano’s Big Step Toward Full Decentralization
Hoskinson proudly stated that Cardano has now achieved full decentralization, a goal that was made possible by the Chang hard fork in September 2024. This update gave more control to the Cardano community through decentralized representatives (DReps) and stake pool operators (SPOs). In simple terms, it means that Cardano is now being run by its users, not by a single company or authority.
He explained that this is just the beginning. Cardano will continue improving how it manages its governance, treasury funds, and network protocols. Hoskinson believes these upgrades will make the blockchain stronger and more competitive in the long run.
The Need for More Adoption
While Cardano’s structure and technology are improving, Hoskinson admitted that adoption and growth are still major challenges. He said that the network needs to attract more users, developers, and projects to truly compete with other blockchains.
He mentioned that Cardano already has powerful tools like Hydra, a scaling solution that can make transactions faster and cheaper. With such technology, Hoskinson expects Cardano’s total value locked (TVL) and transaction activity to rise over time. By 2030, he envisions Cardano having over 10 million active users and becoming a top player in the global crypto market.
Midnight: The Next Big Chapter for Cardano
One of the biggest projects Hoskinson highlighted is Midnight, Cardano’s upcoming privacy-focused sidechain. He believes privacy will be the next major trend in crypto and that Midnight will play a huge role in bringing real-world assets (RWAs) and big institutional investors to blockchain.
Hoskinson explained that trillions of dollars in RWAs won’t enter the crypto space without privacy features that protect data and transactions. Midnight aims to solve this by offering programmable privacy, making Cardano more attractive to serious investors.
x402: A Big Leap Toward AI-Powered Payments
Adding to the excitement, Hoskinson also celebrated the upcoming x402 open-payment standard, which will enable AI agents to make automated blockchain payments. Developed by Coinbase, x402 uses the unused HTTP code “402 Payment Required” to support machine-to-machine transactions.
Patrick Tobler, founder of NMKR, announced that the first x402 proof-of-concept memecoin mint has gone live on Cardano, marking a huge step toward adoption. Hoskinson hailed the innovation as “very big for Cardano”, noting that it positions the network as a financial backbone for AI systems, outpacing competitors like Ethereum and Solana.
By 2030, Hoskinson expects Cardano to be a fully decentralized, widely adopted, and privacy-driven ecosystem, one that connects traditional finance with the future of blockchain.
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FAQs
The Chang hard fork in September 2024 made Cardano fully decentralized by handing control to community DReps and stake pool operators—no single entity runs the network now
Hoskinson envisions over 10 million active users on Cardano by 2030, driven by better scaling, governance, and real-world adoption.
Midnight is Cardano’s privacy-focused sidechain that protects data for real-world assets, attracting trillions in institutional money to blockchain.
x402 is an open standard letting AI agents make automatic payments on Cardano—the first memecoin mint just went live, positioning it as AI’s financial backbone.
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