The founder of Cardano asserts that ADA is "significantly superior" to BTC, can its hundredfold potential be realized?

Charles Hoskinson, the founder of Cardano, recently gave an interview reflecting on Cardano's early development strategy, comparing the historical returns of ADA and Bit, and looking ahead to the growth potential of both. This article delves into the logic behind the investment in Cardano's network construction, the astonishing rise of ADA, the functional differences with Bit, and the key projects supporting Hoskinson's predictions of hundredfold and thousandfold growth, providing cryptocurrency investors with a diversified allocation decision reference.

[Early Decision: Converting BTC Reserves into ADA Ecosystem Development] Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson emphasized that Bitcoin is not the only important story in the early days of the encryption field. He revealed during an interview with Blockworks co-founder Jason Yanowitz that early supporters of Cardano converted their yen investments into 108,000 Bitcoins. If held until now, this Bitcoin reserve would be worth nearly $13 billion. However, these Bitcoins were not hoarded but were directly invested to build the infrastructure of the Cardano blockchain network.

[Cardano vs Bitcoin Return Comparison: ADA's Significant Increase] The latest market data shows that over the past 12 months, the native token ADA of Cardano has surged by 90%, surpassing Bitcoin's 70% increase during the same period. Hoskinson noted that this gap is not a short-term phenomenon, and it has continued to widen since Cardano decided to use its Bitcoin reserves worth hundreds of millions of dollars for its own network development. Looking at a longer timeframe, ADA has risen nearly 4,000% since its debut at a price of $0.02 in September 2017. During the same period, Bitcoin has increased by about 2,400% from approximately $4,337. Currently, the total market capitalization of Cardano's ADA is approximately $30 billion. Report analysis shows that this market capitalization is about 150% higher than the initial Bitcoin reserve value, and is approximately 2.8 times its reserve value.

[The Return is Not the Whole Picture: Differences in Network Function Positioning] Despite the impressive historical return data of ADA, which has led many cryptocurrency investors to consider whether they should have chosen ADA over BTC from the beginning, Hoskinson and industry observers remind us that returns are not the only consideration. Bitcoin and Cardano blockchain networks serve different core goals: Bitcoin is primarily positioned as a store of value and digital gold; while Cardano integrates a proof-of-stake mechanism, smart contract functionality, and on-chain governance model, aiming to become a scalable and sustainable smart contract platform.

[Future Growth Potential: Hoskinson's Hundredfold and Thousandfold Predictions] Looking ahead to the future development prospects of encryption currency, Hoskinson made a bold prediction: he believes that Bit still has the potential for a tenfold increase, reaching $1 million per coin; while ADA, according to his calculations, could achieve an expansion of 100 to 1000 times. This would make Cardano's potential market value reach an astonishing range of $2.8 trillion to $28 trillion. The key growth levers he mentioned include the subproject "Midnight" aimed at introducing data privacy protection for blockchain, as well as the role Cardano may play as the "DeFi layer" for Bitcoin. These innovative applications are seen as the core driving forces behind the next wave of large-scale growth.

[Risk Consideration: Grand Vision but Challenges Exist] However, realizing this vision entails significant risks. Blockchain projects often propose grand ideas, but it may take a long time for them to take root in reality, and they may even fail. Raising ADA to a valuation of several trillion dollars requires not only the large-scale application of blockchain technology in the real world but also the attraction of a massive influx of new users and developers into the ecosystem. Even achieving a 100-fold growth would be enough to reshape the market landscape, let alone a 1000-fold leap.

[Conclusion: The value of ecological construction is highlighted, but the future remains to be verified] The market performance of ADA is undoubtedly impressive, clearly demonstrating that actively building a vibrant and practical blockchain network may far exceed the long-term value of merely holding digital currency. However, asserting that ADA is "significantly superior" to BTC is based on much more than just historical returns. Whether Cardano can truly rewrite blockchain history ultimately depends on whether its key projects can be successfully launched and widely adopted, whether user participation can reach sufficient depth, and whether it can give rise to and popularize disruptive new use cases. For cryptocurrency investors, examining Cardano's data, weighing the accompanying risks, and deciding whether to participate in this comprehensive blockchain project aimed at becoming "beyond currency" will be a key proposition at this time.