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Hoskinson Accuses Ethereum of Copying Cardano's Model

The debate is centered on Ethereum’s state growth and a proposal for temporary payment records, while Hoskinson points to Cardano’s EUTXO model and the rivalry between the two networks.

By Mike Hesp
• 2 min read
Hoskinson Accuses Ethereum of Copying Cardano's Model

Key Takeaways

  • Charles Hoskinson says Ethereum is copying Cardano’s EUTXO model, even though he did not name Cardano directly.
  • Ethereum researcher Toni Wahrstätter proposed a design that would treat payments as temporary objects and could significantly reduce permanent state.
  • So far, the market reaction has been muted; the idea is still a research proposal and would need more review and possibly a hard fork later.

Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson has accused Ethereum of borrowing from Cardano’s EUTXO model after a new research proposal from the Ethereum Foundation brought the state-growth debate back into focus. Hoskinson argued that Cardano is being left out of the conversation even as Ethereum adopts ideas that resemble its design.

New Proposal for Ethereum

Ethereum Foundation researcher Toni Wahrstätter this week laid out a design that would make payments one-time objects, turning them into temporary records instead of permanent entries in state. In practice, that means a basic payment would not have to leave behind a lasting account update every time. Instead, it could be verified using historical data and then leave only a spent marker in state.

Wahrstätter said the approach could reduce permanent state tied to payment activity by about 99.8 percent. He said a new account entry uses roughly 100 to 150 bytes, while a native UTXO leaves behind only about 0.3 bytes. The proposal builds on EIP-8141, the Frame Transactions standard, and fits into Vitalik Buterin’s broader Lean Ethereum roadmap, which is also aimed at making the protocol lighter.

Why Hoskinson Reacted So Strongly

Hoskinson described EUTXO as the biggest innovation in smart contracts and said Ethereum is trying to copy it without giving Cardano credit. He also said that in Ethereum circles, even mentioning Cardano is close to taboo. The reaction reflects a rivalry that has been building for years, especially since Hoskinson co-founded Ethereum in 2014 before leaving to launch Cardano after disagreements over the project’s organizational structure.

The technical difference between the two networks is straightforward. Ethereum relies on an account-based model, where balances are updated directly in a shared global state. Cardano’s EUTXO model, which is based on Bitcoin’s UTXO design, instead treats transactions as independent units that consume existing outputs and create new ones. That setup makes validation more predictable and can improve parallel processing.

Limited Market Impact So Far

So far, the market has barely reacted. ADA is trading around $0.17 (€0.15) after a 12.5 percent gain over the past week, while ETH is changing hands near $1,754 (€1,530) with a market value of $211 billion (€185 billion). Wahrstätter’s idea is still only a research post, and there is no formal EIP yet. If the proposal moves forward, it would still need community review and, eventually, a hard fork.

For European crypto readers, the bigger point is that debates over state, scalability, and smart contract design can quickly turn into a broader fight over influence and recognition. Even without an immediate market verdict, these discussions can shape how developers and institutional investors think about the long-term outlook for Ethereum and Cardano.

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