Cardano to act as Bitcoin’s extension? New integration stirs mixed reactions

• Cardano will be an extension of the Bitcoin network after the latest integration. 
• The community showed mixed reactions as market sentiment around ADA dropped lower. 

The recent integration of Cardano [ADA] into the Bitcoin [BTC] network has again raised questions about its founder, Charles Hoskinson.

In the latest update, Bitcoin OS, the bridge behind BTC and Cardano, claimed that the integration would make the latter an extension of Bitcoin, more like a BTC L2. It stated,

 “By connecting to the BOS Grail bridge, Cardano can soon be called a proper extension of Bitcoin.” 

It added that the Grail Bridge system will allow Cardano and other chains to enjoy Bitcoin network security, a huge capital base of over $1.3 trillion in liquidity. 

Community reacts

However, the mention of Cardano as an extension of Bitcoin didn’t bode well with the community, given the founder’s previous criticism. 

In September, there was a viral video of Hoskinson stating that the industry doesn’t need Bitcoin anymore and wondering about its long-term sustainability. 

He added that, 

“I just don’t see how it (Bitcoin) survives. It’s a religion, not an ecosystem.” 

Some users quickly pointed out that the Bitcoin OS update signalled Hoskinson’s softening stance on Bitcoin. One user said, 

“The founder of Cardano @IOHK_Charles just reversed his stance on Bitcoin and announced that Cardano L1 is pivoting to become a Bitcoin L2” 

On his part, Austin Federa of the Solana Foundation criticized the move and wondered how low Cardano could go. 

“Just when I thought Cardano could not get any slower.”

But Romain Pellerin, CTO at IOHK, the research firm behind Cardano, clarified the update and said, 

“Cardano will give Ordinals the smart contract capability that Bitcoin is missing. It’s not that Cardano will switch from being a L1 to being a L2 of Bitcoin. It’s called UTXO-enabled interoperability between 2 L1s”

Put differently, the bridge will be much more of a trustless integration between two chains, not exactly a BTC L2, as some have purported. 

That said, most users didn’t align with the update or the idea of Cardano being a ‘BTC L2.’ This was illustrated by a sharp decline in weighted sentiment to the negative territory. 

Source: Santiment

Bitcoin OS was confident the integration would boost ADA in the long run, especially from 2025. However, the altcoin struggled below key long-term trendline resistance (white) at press time.

It was valued at $0.36, up about 4% on the weekly charts. It remains to be seen how 2025 will play out for ADA. 

Source: ADA/USDT, TradingView