Cardano's Hoskinson: Crypto Needs New Narrative to Unlock $10T

Charles Hoskinson, founder of Cardano, believes the crypto industry needs to move beyond its traditional focus on faster transactions, cheaper payments, and financial products. He thinks that if the industry wants to attract billions of new users and potentially $10 trillion in capital, it must evolve.

Hoskinson sees agentic commerce as one of the biggest opportunities for crypto adoption. AI agents will eventually handle everyday purchases and financial transactions for users, he said. Under this model, people could give an AI agent a budget and instructions, while the agent manages purchases automatically.

He expects this technology to become a major part of the economy by 2030. In his view, it could bring the next billion users into crypto. Midnight is expected to introduce agentic trading before the end of 2026, allowing users to create wallets for their AI agents and provide them with tokens.

Hoskinson also pointed to the growing interoperability between blockchain networks and other technologies. He argued that crypto ecosystems are becoming less isolated, allowing businesses to connect their existing systems with emerging blockchain infrastructure. Midnight is an example of an ecosystem that businesses could potentially integrate into.