Cardano founder talks about Web3 and the comfort of Bitcoin at Binance Blockchain Week

Published at: March 28, 2022

Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson gave a keynote speech on the first day of this year’s Binance Blockchain Week, held at the Dubai World Trade Centre in the United Arab Emirates.  

Addressing the audience, Hoskinson used his keynote to discuss topics like Bitcoin (BTC), Web3 and philosophy, bringing up topics like what happens next when the community moves forward from the comfort of Bitcoin and toward centralization.

“As blockchains become more advanced and more powerful, we have to start making some difficult and uncomfortable philosophical decisions.”

The CEO raised questions about Web3 and what the lines are between decentralization and regulation. “At what point do you cross the threshold where you’re no longer decentralized? You’re no longer the arbitrator of trust?” asked Hoskinson to an audience made up of blockchain enthusiasts from all over the world. 

“When you move past the comfort of Bitcoin, you start entertaining many other ideas.”

He pointed out that since regulators have started to look at blockchain, questions that used to not be considered have started to surface. Ideas like “At what point can we reverse a transaction?” and “if we can, at what point can we freeze your funds?” now pop up in blockchain discussions. “I thought we could never do that,” said Hoskinson. 

Apart from this, Hoskinson also emphasized the importance of focusing on blockchain technology and not just the profits. He underscored that blockchain brings fairness and equality to everyone, giving smaller entities a fighting chance.

“If you’re just here to make money, you lose all the things that make the technology special.”

Related: Decentralization, DAOs and the current Web3 concerns

Though the Cardano founder did not directly reference decentralized autonomous organizations, he said that the people must be involved in the decision making of blockchain projects. He described a future where DAOs may be the foundation of Web3. “If we’re truly decentralized, we have to figure this out for ourselves,” said Hoskinson.

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