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Today I’m writing regarding a question I’ve seen many times in the Cardano community and abroad: "Why Is Cardano Hated?" The repeated emergence of this question prompted me to write this, so I can think through why this topic emerges often and what Cardano can do to drop the hate label and move forward with the broader community!
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Why is Cardano hated?
This question frequently emerges in the time I've spent in the Cardano community, and this week’s piece has been sparked by the same question raised on the Cardano subreddit this week:
"Why is Cardano Hated on the Crypto subreddit?"
This question has been raised in many different forms many other times, each following number a different example (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9).
The redundancy in this question means that this is something embedded in the crypto culture that both the Cardano community and the broad crypto space believe.
The most liked response (by 300 people!) on the recent instance of this question was written by u/Littlefinger_13. I recommend you check out his comment because the level of engagement it receives indicates consensus on the argument by a majority of people that have visited the post. I will use this response as a sort of frame for what comes next in this essay.
Now that's not to say the view is accurate. It is to say that of the arguments displayed on the thread; this one resonates with most users in the Cardano community (considering that as the responses scaled up, the level of engagement would stay consistent with its current metrics).
More on Charles later. Yes, his opinions may be divisive, and his presentation tends to come across as aggressive and, at times, fueled by rage and anger, which, even if you agree with him, can be off-putting. As mentioned in the post, one factor is that the slow methodological approach to building Cardano is antithetical to the wen-moon-bois philosophy. Therefore, they don't bat an eye because "TVL low, no dapps, no 100x? Not for me."
Littlefinger's point about dapps spinning up on the mainnet, TVL growing, and the blockchain getting faster and more decentralized is undoubtedly true. It holds a promising future for Cardano, which is why it is the blockchain I chose to start covering on my YouTube channel because I think there is an enormous promise for it and the future of dapps coming to the chain.
However, I am concerned that the "hate" isn't solely based on the primary straw men that the Cardano community seems to point to:
The above-mentioned Cardano's slow approach opposes the wen-moon-bois trying to make a quick buck.
"We're not a venture capital chain, so they spread fud and don't like us." The extreme version of this looks like: “other chains spreading FUD campaigns and propaganda."
I am concerned that, in large part, a lot of “hate” comes from the Cardano culture, which I'm convinced does have the potential to hold back Cardano from becoming the leading L1 chain, EVEN IF its tech is superior.
I think this needs to be hashed through to move forward with the broader community in a multi-chain world.
Why should we move forward with the broader community?
Some may ask, well, is it even WORTH moving forward with the broader community? What if we keep marching on as we always have and let the culture of Cardano play out? If we build, they will come. If we do it better, faster, and cheaper, everyone will be forced to the chain in the long run. Right?
Cardano's approach to building is super appealing, and Google beating Yahoo over time is a great analogy for what I think could happen to Cardano overcoming Ethereum.
However, I think that there is a slight difference here. Given the decentralized nature of these protocols, community plays a vital role in the product's continued success; if you lack community and culture, it could prove insufficient for long-term growth.
I think that we should certainly move forward with the broader community and be more inviting to those wanting to both build and join, so I'm going to dive relatively deep into Cardano's culture and see what's there and what gems we can take away.
A Note on Charles
When discussing the culture of a blockchain, it's certainly important to discuss the blockchain's founders, as I think that the culture, in part, is born and grows from its creator. It certainly takes a life of its own as it grows. However, the seeds planted from the beginning will persist and may grow so large that the leaves upon which the first plant has grown have become so broad that it prevents the sun from allowing other seeds to take root and create a beautifully diversified forest.
I think Charles is an amazing figure in the Cardano space; beyond being the founding creator of the Cardano blockchain (which is, of course, a massive feat), he is a brilliant thinker and speaker, clearly shows strong leadership, and is multi-faceted in the depth of breadth of the topics that he shows understanding about, which is demonstrated by taking a visit to his youtube channel, which I have learned so much from and enjoyed hanging out with him in his AMA's.
The accusations from Laura Shin's book "The Cryptopians: Idealism, Greed, Lies, and the Making of the First Big Cryptocurrency Craze," painted Charles as a villain who unjustly bullied/belittled and made people uncomfortable, as well as lying about credentials. This Reddit post could catch you up if you have not heard of this before. These are the same stories that Littlefinger alluded to in his post.
I believe strongly in Carl Jung's work and Jordan Peterson's continuation of that work, which purports that human beings embed themselves in a narrative by which they model their life; for thousands of years, it was the Christian narrative; God "died" in the Nietzschean sense, and now people grasp narratives and values across the board to embed themselves in (from companies, universities, political narratives, etc.). You can see this in the climate craze; the fight against climate depicts an archetypal journey that someone can undertake as a life's journey, which can also help explain some of the tomato soup on painting irrationality.
Crypto is another one of those narratives people latch onto at a broad scale because it depicts an archetypal frontier-type story of a protagonist (the crypto space) with limited power and resources, climbing to overcome the tyrant antagonist (governments/unjust financial system) in which the call to adventure was the 2008 financial crisis. This story is still playing out, and within the narrative are subnarratives populated by characters.
The subnarrative within crypto is something like Ethereum is the rightful technology to overcome the tyrant, and Cardano, to them, is something like the fraudster thief who makes the journey more difficult and impedes their overcoming.
Laura Shin's book managed to paint Charles as a villain, and a jump, I think, was made, painting Cardano's tech as a villain as well. Considering the book painted Charles as a fraudster, a creep, and, at one point, the word "sociopath" was used, I think that this is embedded in the culture of Ethereum and has caused the emergence of specific behaviors, beliefs, and culture in the broad crypto community and in Cardano community in relation to crypto broadly (more on that later).
I genuinely do feel some emotional pain in reading these passages and accusations. Let's assume the allegations are ALL true. I don't know if they are, but let's assume they are for the following three paragraphs.
NO ONE enjoys being humiliated (if you do, consider getting that check out: masochism), let alone getting humiliated publicly in your town square.
If these things are true, do you think Charles is proud of it? Would you be proud of your actions and tendencies in your early to mid-twenties?
Charles is a motivating leader for the entire CRYPTO space, not just the Cardano space. He was wrongfully painted as a villain based on stupid things he may or may not have done in the years of his life in which most people are idiots… regardless of what you say and think about yourself if you look back on your late teens and early twenties and are happy with everything you did; you are probably still making those mistakes.
Charles IS NOT Cardano. However, since he is the founder of Cardano, his values are reflected on the project as a whole.
These accusations certainly inflamed both Cardano’s culture internally and the view of it externally; and how much of that inflammation is still around today is hard to say, but it certainly has had a relatively large effect.
Cardano’s Culture
What is Culture?
Before I speak to the culture, let's make sure we get our definitions straight:
There are so many factors that can be considered in evaluating the culture of a specific social group, in this instance, Cardano. Culture is a complex interplay of many factors, such as the group's history, (token)economics, social norms, values, technology, innovation, and politics/governance. That isn't an exhaustive list, but it captures much of it.
While I won't hit on all these points, they will be sprinkled into the analysis below.
A small team started Cardano after leaving Ethereum to apply a different development methodology which gave birth to various implementations and different solutions to the problems Ethereum was facing.
Cardano's approach to blockchain development requires scientific rigor and immense research and thought before implementation. If done correctly, science's fundamental axiom is something like "to discover the truth." The process of truth discovery is the continuous questioning of beliefs and preconceived notions to understand if there is improvement and further truth that can be found in those discoveries.
That philosophy tends to transcend into the culture, which certainly has benefits! The consistent truth-seeking process leads to questioning prior beliefs that were believed to be true in an attempt to come to bedrock thought.
The unfortunate aspect of this is that it can potentially carry a pretentious attitude. I have experienced a relatively high level of condescension in the Cardano community that I haven't elsewhere in crypto. The Cardano community seems to wall itself off because they believe there is a required level of intelligence to operate on the chain.
To start anything new, you likely begin poorly because you have yet to learn what you're doing, which is OKAY! In fact, it should be welcomed because that's how new people are onboarded.
The Cardano community does tend to carry a disdain for people who aren't native to their community… I have experienced this myself.
Cardano community response to a video I did on what a blockchain is
And I’ve seen this secondhand…
I think Cardano's community draws people who are delighted that a community has decided to take a cautious and considerate approach, which can potentially bring many benefits in the long run by rigorously applying the scientific method to the creation of the blockchain. This is rare and seemed even more challenging in the early days of blockchain development.
This is what brought me to Cardano.
However, I worry that the community has developed a superiority complex and looks down on others due to this approach and unchecked disdainful behavior. I also fear that resentment was already lurking in the Cardano community because of the advent of Cardano's technology as a superior tech, and it not taking hold as the leading layer 1.
This certainly lurks now after CH was attacked by Laura Shin and due to the way the mainstream media seems to depict Cardano.
I get that it's hard to recover from, but when the Bankless guys talk down or misspeak on Cardano, maybe it's worth asking them to talk to try and help them understand the Cardano tech or simply respond to their requests to chat…
Solution?
I understand that these relationships and blockchain cross-culture mingling is complex, in part, due to the history of the chains. However, I truly believe it is always worth an effort to break bread because going to war is a loss for everyone involved.
There are great examples of people in the Cardano space trying to change the tide. Typically, these people aim to make interoperability possible, and with that comes a softer approach to bringing and onboarding more people to Cardano.
Normalize Cardano in the broad crypto market by being open to discussion with other cross-chain individuals and projects.
Let people ask ANY questions, regardless of how stupid you think it may be, and respond with grace because everyone starts somewhere, and we want that place to be Cardano.
Ensure the constitution is reflective of an open, free, and inviting ethos
What does this mean for you?
I invest in Cardano because I think it’s scientific rigor and methodological approach to building a layer 1 blockchain will surpass alternatives and have some of the most successful and valuable projects for the above-mentioned reasons.
My investing time horizon is life, and I think that at some point in my life, I will see Cardano pass Ethereum. Although I’m ready to be wrong, and maybe this is the universe where Cardano follows a trajectory that does not surpass Ethereum. If Cardano does not surpass Ethereum in value, I think that the cultural problems described throughout will play a role as to why that is the case.
So what does this mean for you? Well, if you are an active participant in the Cardano community, try to implement some of the solutions above. If you are a passive member, call people out if you see them standing on a pedestal and condescending down to you or others.
We need to be open to the fact that we may be wrong. Use scientific rigor to question your beliefs, why you might be wrong, and why Cardano may not be the best. Talk to and interact with people across the chain, consider that Cardano is a player in a larger ecosystem of chains and that there is a chance it doesn't make it if we don't open our minds to the fact that other people have interesting things to say.
Thank you, everyone!
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