Cardano Founder Reveals Massive BTC Holding, Targets Idle Liquidity

Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson has revealed that his project once held 108,000 BTC during its crowdsale in 2017. At the time, this was worth around $27 million at a Bitcoin price of approximately $250.

Hoskinson discussed this period on The Breakdown podcast, describing it as 'a wild time' when he spoke with BitGo CEO Mike Belshe. He notes that his involvement in early Bitcoin helped build relationships within the community, which could benefit Cardano's efforts to attract Bitcoin liquidity into DeFi.

Cardano is targeting Bitcoin's idle liquidity through its Pogun initiative, designed to connect Bitcoin holders to Cardano's DeFi ecosystem while maintaining user control over private keys. The project has made significant technological advancements, with proof sizes shrinking from 40 GB to 28.1 MB and validation times decreasing from roughly 354 seconds to 0.149 seconds.

Pogun's CEO Omer Husain estimates that the project already has $500 million in demand from founding borrowers, with regulated institutions expressing interest in providing up to $1 billion in lending capacity.