Cardano Founder Defends Project Against “Ghost Chain” Label

Charles Hoskinson, the founder of Cardano, has responded to critics branding Cardano a “ghost chain.” His remarks were triggered by a report from Fast Company, which stated that fewer than 500 individuals are responsible for generating up to $250 million annually alongside over $3.2 trillion in artificial trading, as per a study from Cornell University’s preprint server arXiv. The report suggested that some crypto projects manipulate their statistics to create the illusion of hype.

> “Cardano with its real numbers = ghost chain. The chains with fake numbers = VC darlings, mass adoption, changing the world”
> — Charles Hoskinson (@IOHK_Charles) March 21, 2025

In light of the “ghost chain” label, Hoskinson emphasizes that Cardano’s growth is steered by authentic user engagement rather than inflated trading figures.

Cardano Continues to Experience Growth

Recent updates from Input Output indicate Cardano’s ecosystem is expanding, with 1,989 projects actively developing on the network. The number of delegated wallets has now reached 1.328 million, reflecting a 0.07% increase in staking activity since the previous week.

The native tokens issued have surpassed 10.72 million, with 210,662 token policies, indicating a 0.14% increase from the week prior. The adoption of smart contracts is stable, currently featuring 129,374 Plutus scripts and 5,691 Aiken scripts.

Transaction volumes have continued to grow, reaching 107.69 million transactions, marking a 0.16% increase from last week. Governance engagement remains strong, with 1,217 DReps contributing to decentralized decision-making, of which 923 are active.

In a move towards enhanced functionality, the Lace wallet is expanding its features to support multiple chains, starting with Bitcoin. This enhancement allows users to manage Bitcoin directly from their wallet, boosting Web3 interoperability and fostering the growth of Bitcoin layer-2 protocols and decentralized finance (DeFi).

This week also saw Coinbase derivatives submit a filing with the CFTC to self-certify Cardano futures, while AMINA Bank launched staking services for Cardano.