Anatoly Yakovenko – co-founder of Solana Labs – has publicly opposed the new proposal from Cardano's leadership to transfer a portion of the treasury fund to Bitcoin.
In a post on June 16 on X, Yakovenko stated that this idea is misguided, reflecting poor financial management and sending the wrong message to the Cardano community. He wrote:
“Projects should only keep enough cash in short-term bonds (T-Bills) to operate for 18–36 months, and nothing more.”
This is so dumb. Projects should keep 18-36 months of post kill list runway in short term tbills but that’s about it. Why would anyone want a team to buy and hold bitcoin for them when they can do it themselves? Why pay for all those coconuts.
— toly 🇺🇸 (@aeyakovenko) June 16, 2025
The controversy stems from Charles Hoskinson's proposal on June 13 – the founder of Cardano – to transfer 100 million USD worth of ADA from the treasury to Bitcoin and stablecoins. Hoskinson believes this will enhance Cardano's DeFi capabilities and help address issues in the current stablecoin ecosystem.
However, many critics argue that this proposal reflects a lack of confidence in the ADA token itself. Cryptocurrency trader Aaron Dishner remarked that this action is no different from Cardano admitting that Bitcoin is more valuable than their native token.
Yakovenko also expressed a similar viewpoint and questioned:
“Why would someone need a development team to buy and hold Bitcoin for them when they can do it themselves?”
The Cardano community is divided, Hoskinson defends the strategy
The proposal has sparked mixed reactions within the Cardano community. Some are concerned that selling 100 million USD of ADA to buy Bitcoin could exert downward pressure on the token's price.
However, Hoskinson dismissed these concerns, asserting that the ADA market is deep enough to absorb the selling without collapsing. He defended the plan as a bold step to improve Cardano's DeFi position, particularly in terms of integrating stablecoins and enhancing liquidity.
Hoskinson pointed out that currently there are only about 33 million USD in stablecoins operating on the Cardano network – a figure he considers insufficient to ensure long-term viability. According to him, restructuring the treasury is an essential strategy to address this limitation, not a sign of weakness.
Despite the controversy, Hoskinson remains firm in his position and stated that personal attacks do not help address the core issue. He declared:
“We have a way to fix this. Calling me arrogant, tyrannical, or the ‘pimple’ of the system will not change the objective reality.”
Hoskinson stated that a coalition within the community will officially submit a proposal at the Rare Evo event – the annual conference for the Cardano ecosystem.