Who is the true DeFi powerhouse? Cardano vs Flare founders' SNS debate, who wins?

▲ Charles Hoskinson, Cardano/ChatGPT generated image ©

Charles Hoskinson, founder of Cardano (ADA), and Hugo Philion, founder of Flare (FLR), are attracting market attention with a heated debate over their networks' growth and DeFi strategies.

According to crypto media outlet Bitcoinist on May 10 (local time), Hugo Philion claimed that Flare's Total Value Locked (TVL) reached $159 million, surpassing Cardano's $132 million, citing DefiLlama data. Philion criticized Cardano, stating that despite its long history since its launch in 2017, it is being outpaced by Flare, which launched six years later, and that Cardano's attempt to imitate Flare's strategy failed miserably.

In response, Charles Hoskinson expressed his displeasure, calling it an old marketing tactic to attack his network and attract media attention. He retorted that Philion needs to update his marketing strategy and suggested he try making TikTok reaction videos instead. However, Philion countered that he merely presented numbers and did not attack the network, then continued his provocation by offering to send Cardano a copy of Flare's 2027 strategy in advance, asking if they would try to imitate it again.

Currently, Flare is rapidly emerging as the largest DeFi provider within the XRP (Ripple) ecosystem, expanding its presence. According to CoinGecko data, FXRP's market capitalization has exceeded $220 million, with a circulating supply of 155 million tokens. Philion declared his ambition to win not by simply competing with Bitcoin (BTC), but by building a single DeFi layer that integrates Bitcoin spot, XRP, Stellar (XLM), and other assets.

Cardano also adheres to its vision of becoming a DeFi layer for Bitcoin. Hoskinson has previously outlined plans to make Bitcoin programmable on Cardano's smart contracts, enabling users to generate yield from Bitcoin. He emphasized that it would be a tremendous opportunity if Bitcoin held by large institutions like BlackRock or the U.S. government could generate returns through the Cardano network.

As of the time of writing, Cardano's price is trading at approximately $0.27, up more than 5% from the previous day. The debate between the two founders is analyzed to be more than just mudslinging, clearly demonstrating the pride and strategic differences of each camp vying for leadership in the next generation of DeFi.

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