Charles Hoskinson, founder of Cardano and CEO of Input Output Global, used a June 16 livestream titled “More comments on Discord” to defend his proposal for a dedicated Cardano governance forum, arguing that the ecosystem needs a structured venue for ADA holders to define growth, coordinate strategy and turn governance votes into executable plans.
Hoskinson Pushes Discord Plan for Cardano Governance
Hoskinson framed the proposed Discord not as another social channel, but as a purpose-built governance workspace for verified ADA holders. He said criticism of the idea has often mischaracterized the plan as an attempt by founding entities to regain control over Cardano discourse. In his view, the forum would be designed around a code of conduct and a narrow mandate: helping the community converge on decisions that can be translated into governance actions.
“There’s a group of people for whatever reason who want to pretend like what is being proposed is yet another communication channel for you to jump into and just shoot the [expletive] and talk with your friends. It’s just not the case. That channel’s sole existence is for people to go to do a job like a surgical suite for a surgery, a library for reading.”
Hoskinson argued that existing venues are not sufficient for the work Cardano now faces. He said X is not built for Cardano governance, while Intersect has struggled because it is expected to serve too many roles at once, including governance, branding, oversight, technical coordination and community management. He also described the Pentad structure as limited by design, saying it consists of five members and is intended for specific tasks such as integrations rather than broad constitutional or ecosystem strategy debates.
A central theme of the livestream was Hoskinson’s claim that Cardano lacks consensus on what “growth” means. He listed possible measures cited by community members, including ADA price, monthly active users, developer activity, block usage and stake pool participation, but said the specific metric matters less than reaching an ecosystem-wide definition. “It is impossible to develop a strategy, build a governance structure, a product roadmap if you have no baseline definition of what you’re trying to achieve,” he said.
ADA Holder Forum Proposal Draws Fresh Scrutiny
The governance forum proposal comes as Hoskinson is pressing for a more formal political structure inside Cardano’s on-chain governance system. He said he plans to set up a DRep and a political party whose purpose would be to advance the governance process he is proposing. He also said that, if ADA holders delegate to him, he would vote against funding and governance actions from participants who refuse to engage in the agreed governance venue, whether that ends up being Discord or another structure.
“I will vote no on all funding and all governance actions proposed by people who don’t join the Discord or whatever the governance structure ends up being for the conversation. I’m not telling them what conversation to have. I’m not telling them what to think, how to think.”
Hoskinson tied the proposal to broader concerns about budgeting and execution. He said current funding requests total more than 600 million ADA against a 350 million NCL, while the ecosystem lacks a unified strategy for pairing treasury spending with measurable outcomes. He described the next steps as defining growth, adding executive function through constitutional updates, and developing a strategy and budget that can be ratified and executed through Cardano’s governance system.
He also stressed that the plan would require votes and consent at each stage, rejecting the claim that the forum amounts to a power grab. “Every step of this way requires consent of the government. Every step of the way requires a referendum, a vote. This is not a power grab,” Hoskinson said. He added that critics should propose an alternative if they reject his approach, arguing that governance without a dedicated coordination venue leaves Cardano operating in “chaos” rather than through accountable execution.
Hoskinson’s latest comments sharpen the debate over how Cardano should organize its post-Voltaire governance era. His proposal would give ADA holders a structured forum, a code of conduct and a political mechanism for turning discussion into votes, while critics are likely to continue scrutinizing whether such a process can remain neutral, inclusive and decentralized in practice.
AI Transparency Note: This article was prepared with the assistance of an AI system based on the sources listed and was reviewed, edited, and approved by a human editor before publication. All quotes, data points, and factual claims are intended to be grounded in the cited source material; however, errors cannot be ruled out entirely.