Cardano Founder Says Ripple Is Still Here After Years of Criticism, Praises Its Relentless Execution of Major Deals

Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson has acknowledged Ripple’s ability to consistently execute its strategy despite enduring years of criticism from across the cryptocurrency industry.

Speaking on The Breakdown podcast with host David Gokhshtein, Hoskinson noted that Ripple has remained focused on expanding its business regardless of public opinion or industry backlash.

According to Hoskinson, Ripple’s greatest strength lies in its ability to continually launch products and secure major partnerships. 

Ripple Continues to Deliver Products and Partnerships

He pointed to the December 2024 launch of RLUSD, Ripple’s dollar-backed stablecoin, as evidence of the company’s continued expansion into new markets.

In addition, Hoskinson highlighted Ripple’s reported $1.25 billion acquisition of Hidden Road, which was subsequently rebranded as Ripple Prime. In his view, the deal is another example of Ripple’s determination to pursue large-scale institutional opportunities.

Beyond individual deals, Hoskinson emphasized that Ripple has successfully onboarded hundreds of banking partners over the years, significantly strengthening its position within the global financial system. Most of these institutions rely on Ripple’s payment infrastructure, particularly Ripple Payments, to facilitate cross-border transactions and settlements.

More recently, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse told CNBC that the company now processes approximately $16 trillion in annual payments and clearing activity across its businesses.

Results Matter More Than Popularity

While acknowledging that industry participants may disagree with some of Ripple’s decisions, Hoskinson argued that it is difficult to ignore the company’s track record of product launches, partnerships, and business expansion over more than a decade.

In his view, longevity in the cryptocurrency industry rarely happens by accident. Instead, surviving multiple market cycles, regulatory battles, and shifts in investor sentiment requires disciplined execution rather than short-term hype.

Therefore, he stressed that Ripple’s continued relevance after more than twelve years demonstrates the importance of consistently building products and delivering measurable results.

This is not the first time Hoskinson has publicly acknowledged Ripple’s achievements, despite occasionally disagreeing with Garlinghouse and segments of the XRP community. Previously, he celebrated Ripple’s legal victory against the U.S. SEC, praised the XRP community, and described the XRPL Unique Node List (UNL) as a “well-reasoned” system. 

The Same Philosophy Applies to Cardano

Meanwhile, Hoskinson stressed that crypto projects must continue building regardless of growing criticism, summarizing his philosophy with a simple message: “you gotta build.”

The statement reinforces the idea that long-term relevance comes from creating products, attracting users and partners, and consistently delivering on promises. Ironically, Cardano itself is currently facing increasing scrutiny over the performance of its native asset, ADA, governance disagreements, developer departures, and the shutdown of a few ecosystem projects.

Nevertheless, Hoskinson, along with Input Output Global and other founding organizations, continues to pursue initiatives aimed at improving Cardano’s competitiveness.

Shortly after unveiling the testnet for Leios, Hoskinson revealed that Cardano is preparing for the largest upgrade in the network’s history. According to him, the transformation will revolve around RealFi initiatives, the Midnight privacy ecosystem, and expanding opportunities in Bitcoin DeFi.