Is Ethereum’s Era Ending? Cardano Founder Warns It Could Become “A Victim of Its Own Success” and Collapse Within 15 Years Due to Structural Flaws

Cardano Founder Warns Ethereum May Face Extinction In 10 To 15 Years

Charles Hoskinson, founder of Cardano and one of the co-founders of Ethereum, has cast doubt on the future of Ethereum, predicting the network could become obsolete within the next decade.

During a recent "Ask Me Anything" session streamed on Youtube, Hoskinson raised concerns over Ethereum’s technological decisions and governance, claiming these could lead to its eventual decline.

Flawed Decisions Weighing Down Ethereum’s Future

According to Hoskinson, Ethereum is struggling due to several key architectural choices that, in his view, were detrimental from the start.

He highlighted three critical flaws: an outdated accounting model, an inadequate virtual machine, and a poor consensus mechanism.

Hoskinson stated,

"They have the wrong accounting model, they have the wrong virtual machine, and they have the wrong consensus model."

According to him, these issues were "self-inflicted wounds" that experts had warned about.

Ethereum’s ongoing reliance on Layer-2 solutions and slashing mechanisms to address scalability issues has only compounded the problem, according to Hoskinson.

He believes these fixes are not enough, with the consequences of these decisions now becoming evident.

Why Ethereum’s Governance Model May Fail

One of Hoskinson’s major points of contention lies in Ethereum’s governance structure.

He argues that the lack of a robust on-chain governance system severely limits Ethereum’s capacity to adapt and evolve.

From his point of view, Ethereum’s internal challenges would only become more difficult to manage over time.

He warned,

"Vitalik will not be able to maintain network cohesion indefinitely by sheer force of will."

Hoskinson also pointed out that building a strong governance system would take years, with a timeline of five to seven years for any meaningful progress.

This delay could stifle any attempts to fix the network’s core issues.

On the other hand, in one of his recent live stream, he commended Cardano,

“Cardano is the most decentralised cryptocurrency on the planet. We have the best on-chain governance system. ”

Cardano’s Technological Edge Over Ethereum

While critiquing Ethereum, Hoskinson was quick to praise Cardano’s approach to blockchain technology.

He explained that Cardano’s decisions, particularly its virtual machine model based on RISC-V, offer a more efficient and scalable alternative to Ethereum’s current setup.

Cardano’s unique extended UTXO model and scalability mechanisms like Hydra and the Midnight sidechain were also highlighted as key differentiators.

Hoskinson asserted, positioning Cardano as a viable contender for Ethereum’s market share,

"We have the right accounting model, we have the right consensus model, and we have the right virtual machine model.”

He foresees that fast monolithic blockchains and the growing popularity of Bitcoin’s DeFi could soon surpass Ethereum in terms of liquidity and user experience.

Ethereum’s Fate: Can It Survive the Next Decade?

Hoskinson’s warning about Ethereum’s future comes at a time when Ethereum’s market cap exceeds $212 billion, making it the second-largest cryptocurrency behind Bitcoin.

However, despite Ethereum’s dominance, its price per token has remained relatively stagnant at around $1,768, while Cardano’s ADA token, with a market cap of just under $27 billion, continues to attract attention.

Hoskinson believes that Ethereum's layering issues will eventually lead to a “hostile divorce” between its Layer-1 base and the Layer-2 scaling solutions that have been built to address its shortcomings.

He predicts that as Ethereum’s inefficiencies become more apparent, users will gradually migrate to alternative platforms, making it harder for Ethereum to maintain its relevance.

RISC-V Transition: A Step in the Right Direction?

Despite his criticism of Ethereum’s broader issues, Hoskinson welcomed Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin’s recent proposal to transition to RISC-V, a more efficient instruction set architecture for the Ethereum Virtual Machine.

Hoskinson complimented,

“I think it is good to go to RISC-V. That’s a really good decision for Vitalik to make.”

He sees the transition as a positive move, but remains cautious about its potential to resolve Ethereum’s underlying problems without addressing the network’s fundamental flaws, particularly its accounting model.

Is Ethereum a ‘Victim of Its Own Success’?

Hoskinson compared Ethereum to former tech giants like MySpace and Blackberry, suggesting that Ethereum, despite its success, could ultimately meet the same fate.

He stated,

"Ethereum is a brilliant project but a victim of its own success."

With the rapid development of blockchain technology, he warned that Ethereum may struggle to keep up unless it undergoes a significant overhaul of both its architecture and governance structure.

As Ethereum faces rising competition from other blockchain networks, Hoskinson’s remarks have reignited discussions about the future of decentralised platforms and whether Ethereum can maintain its position as a leading blockchain in the face of mounting challenges.