Charles Hoskinson, the founder of Cardano and CEO of Input Output Hong Kong (IOHK), believes that Cardano is poised for exponential growth in scalability and affordability, making it the ideal platform for a global financial operating system. Hoskinson highlighted two key features, Hydra and Leios, that contribute to the network’s efficiency.
Hydra is a layer 2 protocol that enhances the network’s transaction processing capabilities. It achieves this by establishing off-chain channels between participants, allowing them to conduct transactions without incurring fees associated with on-chain transactions. These transactions are only broadcasted to the main network once they are completed.
Unlike other solutions like Bitcoin’s Lightning Network, Hydra enables participants to open multiple parallel channels, known as multi-headed scaling, without compromising security or privacy. Cardano recently released Hydra v.0.16.0, which supports the latest version of cardano-node and the Conway block format.
Ouroboros Leios, on the other hand, is a new variant of the Ouroboros proof-of-stake protocol. It aims to increase the network’s throughput without compromising security by utilizing idle nodes for computations between blocks.
Cardano’s goal of becoming the foundation for the global financial system comes after being criticized as a zombie chain by Forbes. Despite this, ADA, Cardano’s native cryptocurrency, has shown positive performance, with a 8% increase in the past day and a 15% increase for the week.
In conclusion, Charles Hoskinson believes that Cardano’s scalability and low-cost nature, combined with its innovative features like Hydra and Leios, make it the best platform for building the future global financial network.