Cardano ‘not a Bitcoin clone’: Unpacking ADA’s approach

• Cardano founder claims that legacy media ignores the L1 network 
• Hoskinson cites Cardano’s Japan roots, tech stack and philosophy as reasons for media blackout. 

Cardano [ADA] has sustained heavy FUD (fear, uncertainty and disinformation) in 2024. From being called “dog sh*t” to “ghost chain,” the L1 blockchain has weathered so much in the current bull run. 

But Cardano’s problems go beyond the FUD. In a recent interview, the Cardano founder, Charles Hoskinson, reiterated that the network is ignored by legacy media for various reasons. 

Hoskinson cited Cardano’s Japan roots which didn’t go well with US venture capital scene. He noted, 

“Cardano was founded in Japan. That’s so radically out of venture capital, Silicon Valley, and New York circles. So it didn’t have those initial founding connection points, that were typically from Western media. So for a long time, it’s been ignored because there’s no connection point.

ADA: Different tech stack and philosophy

Additionally, Hoskinson mentioned the blockchain’s tech and philosophy as other factors that make legacy media avoid the L1. 

On the tech stack, he mentioned how different Cardano is from Ethereum [ETH] Virtual Machine (EVM) and Bitcoin [BTC]; 

“Our technology is radically different; it’s not an EVM clone, it’s not a Bitcoin clone.” 

However, the founder noted that the different tech stack meant a steep learning curve, which may discourage others from joining the network. 

He noted, 

“Some people didn’t want to take the time and effort to learn the competitive differences.”

Finally, Hoskinson mentioned vocal anti-globalist position taken by Cardano as repulsive to legacy media. He highlighted; 

“Third, it’s philosophical. Something like Cardano was a very threatening thing because it’s proving at scale, everything single thing that you hate. It’s showing people how to be their own bank, own their identity, it’s building a government, it has it own constitution.

If you allow that to grow, it’s a cancer to globalist plans.”

Hoskinson believes that legacy media’s limited coverage has made it challenging to compete. Especially competition with other L1 chains that are VC-backed and perceived as more “centralized.”

ADA’s price action partly echoed Hoskinson’s claims. Interestingly, ADA rallied over 130% in Q4 2023.

However, Q1 2024 performance has been limited. It was up only  9% as FUD increased. At the time of writing, ADA traded at $0.56, over 440% away from last cycle’s all-time high of $3.1.