The Cardano Foundation is out.
We recently covered statements made by Cardano’s Charles Hoskinson criticizing Cardano’s community engagement body. Hoskinson’s open letter covered numerous failings, but these can be simply summed up: The Cardano Foundation hadn’t been doing its job for about two years.
Cardano, the decentralized entity, has always existed in three entities: The Cardano Foundation, IOHK (Internet Online Hong Kong) and Emurgo. This tripartite structure was created at Cardano’s founding so that the project could continue, even if one of the three groups failed. Cardano leadership hoped that this would never happen, but happened it has.
The Cardano Foundation was in charge of community engagement. They were meant to communicate with those who buy Cardano, users and amateur developers. They were supposed to create tutorials and marketing materials. It was their job to run workshops and meetups. Whatever its actual accomplishments, the Foundation is now no longer formally affiliated with Cardano.
Who Will Run Cardano Community Engagement?
This leaves IOHK and Emurgo to pick up its slack. But is either body equipped to do so? Let’s take a quick look at Cardano’s remaining two leadership centers to understand what the future might hold.
IOHK
IOHK is the main development hub for Cardano ADA. They’re the ones building the technology, fixing bugs, and conducting research. According to CEO Hoskinson, IOHK will announce within the next two weeks how it will be taking on the responsibility of community engagement as well.
This may or may not work. IOHK is mostly staffed by engineers and other developers. These experts are deeply ensconced in the technology, and may not be the best-suited parties to run a community engagement division. Will IOHK bring on new staff? Will Hoskinson be doing more Reddit AMAs? We can only wait and see.
Emurgo
Hoskinson also said that Emurgo will make its own arrangements for community management. This makes a little more sense, as Emurgo is in charge of bringing on new dev talent and creating partnerships. They’re inherently more outward-focused than IOHK, so community management could fit well among their existing duties.
Could the Cardano Foundation Be Re-Created?
While IOHK and Emurgo may do a better job than the defunct Cardano Foundation, the ideal situation would be one wherein the CF was rebuilt from the ground up. Cardano’s division of labor is one of its best strengths, and the surviving member bodies are effective in their existing roles.
Cardano still doesn’t have a mainnet available to the public. It doesn’t make sense to divert resources from already overworked development groups to build community interest in a product they’ve not yet finished building. However, starting a new Cardano Foundation from scratch is easier said than done. There are only so many people with expertise in this technology sufficient to engage a community.
For the time being, Cardano investors must wait and see what happens next.
(*Information in this article should not be taken as investment advice.)