- Charles Hoskinson says he has been studying over 11,000 DAOs and what they got right and wrong to inform Cardano’s decentralized direction.
- Cardano has been split over recent proposals by Hoskinson’s Input Output Group for funding, which some dReps claim are self-serving.
Charles Hoskinson is going back in time to study over 11,000 DAOs in the crypto ecosystem, focusing on how they handled governance and internal conflicts as he seeks to steer Cardano out of its current governance mess.
As we have reported, Hoskinson’s Input Output Group, which handles the network’s development, published a proposal for its vision of the network, which included a funding request from the Treasury. Some delegated representatives (dReps) opposed the proposal and have rallied the community against it. This has blown into a conflict between IOG and the dReps, which led to an ultimatum from Hoskinson to either vote yes or risk losing him.
Hoskinson now says that he’s conducting a comprehensive review of DAO governance from over 11,000 organizations in crypto and beyond. He’s also going over a decade of literature on decentralized governance to study “executive function, roadmap, and strategy setting.”
He says:
“The goal will be to propose some ideas to add new features to Cardano’s governance via the constitution and new technology that will resolve much of the conflict we are facing.”
He added that he’s now considering becoming a dRep himself to push his agenda individually. It’s not the first time he has floated this idea; in a video over the weekend, he said he’s tired of fighting the dReps and might become one and use his tokens to push his ideas. Hoskinson and IOG are among the largest holders of ADA, and if he became a dRep, he would have an outsized impact on the voting.
Cardano’s Governance Conflict Dying Down as ADA Drowns
The conflict seems to be dying down. On Sunday, Hoskinson revealed that one of IOG’s proposals is edging close to being approved. This proposal, in particular, “tackles the blockers devs keep naming: fragmented tooling, scattered docs, weak onboarding, and a steep learning curve,” Hoskinson says.
We’re just 0.5% away from this Treasury governance proposal passing. Cardano needs more builders — and this proposal tackles the blockers devs keep naming: fragmented tooling, scattered docs, weak onboarding and a steep learning curve. #Cardano
— Charles Hoskinson (@IOHK_Charles) May 24, 2026
This infighting shows Cardano’s strength, not its weakness, the founder says. He noted:
“Cardano is alive. The community is engaged. And that matters more than any single vote. But this process has shown me something important: Cardano’s governance is real. You are not passive holders. You are owners. That is exactly what we built this for.”
He further invited the Pentad to TOKEN49 in Singapore, where he will be taking to the stage for a keynote address, to discuss the future of Cardano. The Pentad is made up of the five main organizations steering the network: the Cardano Foundation, IOG, Midnight Foundation, EMURGO, and Intersect.
Meanwhile, ADA is still under the control of the bears, trading below the 50-day and 200-day exponential moving averages, which stand between $0.256 and $0.350. At press time, ADA trades at $0.244, dropping 15% since hitting a monthly high at $0.2871 two weeks ago.
