Cardano creator Charles Hoskinson announced the start of a large-scale study of 11,000 third-party DAOs for an urgent restructuring of the project’s Constitution by 2027. He was forced to take this step by blockchain stagnation and an ultimatum from developers demanding an end to funding for fundamental science in favor of practical DeFi products.
As of late May 2026, Cardano is being torn apart by an ideological conflict between its academic past and commercial future, clearly illustrated by Hoskinson’s discussion with developer Andrew Westberg.
Inside Cardano’s governance crisis
The pragmatic wing of the community is demanding an end to “carpet bombing” budgets with long-term scientific research that brings no immediate market benefit. Instead, developers are calling for a move toward “sniper” funding for products ready for commercialization, including bridges, rollups and privacy solutions.
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Hoskinson, on the other hand, is convinced that abandoning fundamental science would destroy Cardano’s main unique selling proposition. In his view, the specifics of the EUTXO architecture rule out the use of ready-made, off-the-shelf solutions, while budget cuts would only lead to the loss of elite research talent, making the network vulnerable.
While leadership and developers argue over methodology, Cardano’s economy is showing clear signs of stagnation, only adding fuel to the internal political fight. Despite an impressive market capitalization of $9.08 billion, the total value locked in the network’s DeFi segment stands at a modest $129.01 million, while the blockchain’s daily revenue has amounted to $517, according to DefiLlama.
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Under these conditions, maintaining the project’s current valuation is becoming Hoskinson’s main challenge. The ongoing vote to allocate 33 million ADA from the treasury, which will run until June 8, has turned into a battlefield, as validators disappointed by low returns demand immediate business results from leadership instead of promises.
Thus, the launch of a mission to study 11,000 DAOs is Hoskinson’s attempt to buy time and find balance: to calm rebellious developers with a new governance model, while preserving Cardano’s academic foundation until new development directions, such as possible Bitcoin DeFi integration, begin to deliver real economic results.