Blockchain Rio 2024: Cryptocurrencies Accelerate Technological Evolution, According to Cardano Founder
Charles Hoskinson discussed the future of blockchain and how it can be used beyond financial products in a conversation with journalists. The Cardano founder was in Brazil to participate in Blockchain Rio 2024.
Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson spoke at a press conference on the third day of Blockchain Rio. In it, he talked about the future potential of blockchain-based media, the developments of Cardano, and how fast the crypto technology has been advancing.
Hoskinson talked in a closed interview and even answered questions from Alena Afanaseva, CEO and founder of BeInCrypto. The event was covered by BeInCrypto Brazil reporter Aline Fernandes.
Blockchain Rio: Beyond a Financial System
When Charles Hoskinson talks about the problem of social networks, he is also talking about one of the main assets of the modern world: personal data. And therefore, how this data travels through the network and how it is used to influence public opinion.
He draws attention to the importance of robust and transparent systems that allow public scrutiny of data:
“All nation states are realizing that operational resilience is not just a new process that we have, but it is also linked to national security. It is very important that we have open and decentralized, transparent systems with redundancies and resilience.”
In addition, Charles Hoskinson stresses that blockchain is not limited to the development of new financial products. The search for other use cases is beginning to awaken:
“We are also seeing that many nation states are starting to realize that the technology in our industry is not just about money, but about the economic, political and social system.”
He does, however, admit that it is difficult to accept a completely transparent system: “What you see on a day-to-day basis is that there is an attempt by everybody to have a go at our records. You know, people have been trying to destroy encryption for 15 years. Live with the bad stuff.”
The emergence of “highly centralized” blockchains that “masquerade as decentralized” is another concern for Hoskinson. He cited the recent incident at CrowdStrike, which resulted in a global cyber outage due to a failed software update.
That is why Cardano’s founder stresses the importance of analyzing the fundamentals of a blockchain project. Because by prioritizing speed, “some projects become very centralized and jeopardize security and decentralization”.
He also recalls that “Cardano has been running continuously for six years, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This is how it gradually gets faster: “without sacrificing decentralization.
Charles Hoskinson and Cryptocurrencies
Hoskinson acknowledges that it is not easy to determine how decentralized a blockchain is. That’s why he and the University of Edinburgh have developed the Edinburgh Decentralization Index. It measures the level of decentralization of a blockchain.
Ultimately, Hoskinson believes there is still a promising future for the cryptocurrency industry in general. He sees the cryptocurrency sector as a catalyst for the current technological evolution:
“The cryptocurrency industry allows us to evolve these systems at the same speed with which we evolve the iPhone. However, this is happening with core banking systems, voting systems, the way we identify people, among others. The speed of change is getting faster and faster. Our children are changing every week.
So we are seeing rapid progress and a rapid amount of innovation. This is already starting to change the banking system. They realized that it’s absurd that wire transfers take five days to settle.”
By Audy Castaneda