Cardano Dismisses Claims of Hydra Project Abandonment as Baseless Rumors

Cardano’s co-founder, Charles Hoskinson, dispels rumors alleging the abandonment of the network’s Hydra layer-2 scaling project, labeling such claims as “pure FUD” in a recent post on X.

Addressing speculations circulating on March 18, Hoskinson affirmed that developers have not ceased their efforts on the Hydra project, refuting assertions to the contrary.

Hydra, launched in May 2023, aims to augment transaction processing capacity and reduce costs on the Cardano blockchain, aligning with the network’s scaling objectives outlined under the “Basho” phase.

Despite recent claims suggesting a pivot away from Hydra, particularly fueled by Cardano’s integration with Hyperledger Firefly announced on March 13, Hoskinson reaffirmed the team’s commitment to Hydra’s development.

Hoskinson expressed confidence in the project’s momentum, emphasizing ongoing community engagement and forthcoming protocol enhancements.

This isn’t the first time Hoskinson has addressed unfounded doubts surrounding Hydra. In a previous instance in October, he defended the project against criticisms, stressing its role in facilitating transaction efficiency rather than focusing solely on transactions per second (TPS).

Moreover, Hoskinson reiterated Hydra’s evolution to encompass middleware supporting decentralized application (DApp) development on Cardano.

Despite occasional waves of skepticism, Cardano has demonstrated growth in decentralized finance (DeFi), as evidenced by an all-time high total value locked (TVL) of $520 million on March 14, according to DefiLlama. However, the network still trails competitors like Ethereum, Tron, BNB Smart Chain, and Solana, which collectively boast a TVL of $72 billion.