Cardano (ADA) founder Charles Hoskinson has warned of an impending decentralized sector identity war as the crypto sector moves towards mass adoption.
According to Hoskinson, the wars will likely accelerate in the next 24 months, and if the sector does not get decentralization right, it will mean a bleak future for the crypto space, he said during the Web Summit 2022 on November 24.
Notably, the Cardano founder stated that with the smart contract wars over, the decentralized identity would be big while noting players in the sector understand the area is ‘the choke point.’
Picks for you
“It’s going to be one of the most competitive areas in the space the next 24 months. The smart contract wars are over; it’s commoditized, and lots of stuff is happening. The identity wars have yet to begin, and this is going to be a big one.”
He added:
“There’s a boatload of entities that are starting to subtly get involved in this stuff, and because they know this is the choke point and they really want to control it, and for the sake of the industry, we need to make sure that whoever wins is decentralized.”
Decentralization index
In general, Hoskinson, who also doubles up as the Ethereum (ETH) founder, stressed that the war’s winner should be decentralized to safeguard the crypto sector’s principles. Hoskinson’s sentiment comes after the Cardano parent company Input Output (IOHK) unveiled the world’s first decentralized index.
As reported by Finbold, the Edinburgh Decentralization Index tool seeks to establish a transparent mechanism for rating the decentralization level of public blockchain platforms.
Indeed, Hoskison had expressed his frustration with most crypto projects launching publicly on the grounds of being decentralized, yet there needed to be a specific measure to use.
“I am tired of being in an industry where every single person says; we’re decentralized. What does it mean? We don’t have a way of measuring. It’s like saying we’re performant. <…> These are just puffery. These are just words. The problem is that decentralization is a measurement of resilience. It’s a measurement of control. It’s a measurement of reliability, and it is incumbent in the way that protocols are designed,” he said.
He maintains that decentralized projects should be based on resilience, control, and reliability.
Featured image via Messari YouTube
