Kaupr spent part of Saturday in dialogue with the Cardano community in Norway to map the reactions to the harsh criticism of the Cardano network from the analytics company K33. There is no doubt that the criticism immediately created great engagement and emotion in social media such as X and groups in Discord, but “Keep calm and carry on” seems right now to be the mantra that applies.
Many in the Norwegian Cardano community also used Saturday to participate in a workshop on the future governance system of the Cardano network, and Saturday evening to socialize. We've spoken to several of these to hear about their reactions to the Cardano criticism. Kaupr has also spoken to representatives of The Cardano Foundation, who were in Norway to participate in workshops on the future governance system of the Cardano network.
So what does Charles Hoskinson, the founder of Cardano, say about the criticism? “Who? Never heard of them!” tweeted Hoskinson early on. Those who know Hoskinson say this is a typical way for Hoskinson to express himself. He probably knows very well who K33 and its parent company Arcario are. (Red: Scroll further down the article for more information about the K33/ Arcario).
Hoskinson, however, does not go into the gist of Criticism of K33, which were, among other things, “Lack of meaningful activity”, “No evidence that Cardano is being used for anything”. Other Cardano spokespeople have not done so on X/Twitter either, but many are instead looking for vicarious motives at K33. Chris O claims, for example, that K33/Arcario is driven by the interests of Venture Capital companies, and writes, among other things, that K33's analysis was nothing more than a “hit piece designed to attack a competitor ecosystem in order to manipulate price and sentiment”.
This point of view is also found in the Norwegian Cardano community, but all in all, the reactions here are much more nuanced than what emerges from the discussion threads on X/ Twitter. In Norway, too, probably everyone believes that the K33 analysis lacked substance and depth, compared to their own knowledge of Cardano. But here, nevertheless, many believe that the answer to the criticism, insofar as one should devote time and resources to it, should be to carry evidence that there is great activity in the Cardano network.
One of the proofs, according to these, is the evolution in TVL (Total Locked Value), which is rising (see graph from DeFillama), following a fall that all other blockchains also experienced during the crypto winter. Another proof, according to them, is that the developers of the Cardano Foundation, who make up the bulk of the 600 employees, are now well in the process of developing concrete products and solutions, such as a “Digital Identity Wallet”.
Cardano fans also highlight project-level evidence. An example is news-current Iagon, which in recent weeks has rolled out a platform for storing large amounts of data, built on Cardano. Also Tvwinn, which is a new platform for tokenization of Real-World-Assets, has its origins in the Cardano environment, but at the same time bets on being accessible across the blockchains, through a so-called “Multi-chain” approach.
Entrepreneurs and startups can also get funding for their projects from the Cardano Foundation, after thorough pitching and voting in the Cardano community. The sum of these funds, according to Kaupr's understanding, should amount to 1.4 billion. ADA (= the cryptocurrency of Cardano), which at current rates amounts to well over 700 million USD. Several Norwegian projects have benefited from this scheme.
K33 Research (formerly Arcane Research) is an analytics company with more than 40,000 subscribers to its analytics and newsletters as well as distribution through financial channels such as Bloomberg. Several of the company's analysts, such as Vetle Lunde, are increasingly used by international media to comment on the news picture. Kaupr has also recently video interview Lunde on the launch of the new US and Bitcoin-based ETF funds that became available in the market in mid-January.
In addition to research and analysis, K33 in Norway consists of a brokerage and advisory service. Following a restructuring and name change in 2022, K33 has left the retail/consumer market, and has invested fully and completely on wealth managementg. K33 is again a subsidiary of Arcario AB (formerly Arcane AB), which is listed in Sweden, led by CEO Torbjørn Bull Jenssen and now defined as an investment company with a number of subsidiaries in the field of crypto.
In the future, Kaupr will cover developments in the Cardano network in a journalistic manner, in line with other blockchains, as well as specific Cardano-based projects, without discouraging or recommending them. The same policy is also applied when we follow Arcario, K33 and their analyses.
Kaupr spent part of Saturday in dialogue with the Cardano community in Norway to map the reactions to the harsh criticism of the Cardano network from the analytics company K33. There is no doubt that the criticism immediately created great engagement and emotion in social media such as X and groups in Discord, but “Keep calm and carry on” seems right now to be the mantra that applies.
Many in the Norwegian Cardano community also used Saturday to participate in a workshop on the future governance system of the Cardano network, and Saturday evening to socialize. We've spoken to several of these to hear about their reactions to the Cardano criticism. Kaupr has also spoken to representatives of The Cardano Foundation, who were in Norway to participate in workshops on the future governance system of the Cardano network.
So what does Charles Hoskinson, the founder of Cardano, say about the criticism? “Who? Never heard of them!” tweeted Hoskinson early on. Those who know Hoskinson say this is a typical way for Hoskinson to express himself. He probably knows very well who K33 and its parent company Arcario are. (Red: Scroll further down the article for more information about the K33/ Arcario).
Hoskinson, however, does not go into the gist of Criticism of K33, which were, among other things, “Lack of meaningful activity”, “No evidence that Cardano is being used for anything”. Other Cardano spokespeople have not done so on X/Twitter either, but many are instead looking for vicarious motives at K33. Chris O claims, for example, that K33/Arcario is driven by the interests of Venture Capital companies, and writes, among other things, that K33's analysis was nothing more than a “hit piece designed to attack a competitor ecosystem in order to manipulate price and sentiment”.
This point of view is also found in the Norwegian Cardano community, but all in all, the reactions here are much more nuanced than what emerges from the discussion threads on X/ Twitter. In Norway, too, probably everyone believes that the K33 analysis lacked substance and depth, compared to their own knowledge of Cardano. But here, nevertheless, many believe that the answer to the criticism, insofar as one should devote time and resources to it, should be to carry evidence that there is great activity in the Cardano network.
One of the proofs, according to these, is the evolution in TVL (Total Locked Value), which is rising (see graph from DeFillama), following a fall that all other blockchains also experienced during the crypto winter. Another proof, according to them, is that the developers of the Cardano Foundation, who make up the bulk of the 600 employees, are now well in the process of developing concrete products and solutions, such as a “Digital Identity Wallet”.
Cardano fans also highlight project-level evidence. An example is news-current Iagon, which in recent weeks has rolled out a platform for storing large amounts of data, built on Cardano. Also Tvwinn, which is a new platform for tokenization of Real-World-Assets, has its origins in the Cardano environment, but at the same time bets on being accessible across the blockchains, through a so-called “Multi-chain” approach.
Entrepreneurs and startups can also get funding for their projects from the Cardano Foundation, after thorough pitching and voting in the Cardano community. The sum of these funds, according to Kaupr's understanding, should amount to 1.4 billion. ADA (= the cryptocurrency of Cardano), which at current rates amounts to well over 700 million USD. Several Norwegian projects have benefited from this scheme.
K33 Research (formerly Arcane Research) is an analytics company with more than 40,000 subscribers to its analytics and newsletters as well as distribution through financial channels such as Bloomberg. Several of the company's analysts, such as Vetle Lunde, are increasingly used by international media to comment on the news picture. Kaupr has also recently video interview Lunde on the launch of the new US and Bitcoin-based ETF funds that became available in the market in mid-January.
In addition to research and analysis, K33 in Norway consists of a brokerage and advisory service. Following a restructuring and name change in 2022, K33 has left the retail/consumer market, and has invested fully and completely on wealth managementg. K33 is again a subsidiary of Arcario AB (formerly Arcane AB), which is listed in Sweden, led by CEO Torbjørn Bull Jenssen and now defined as an investment company with a number of subsidiaries in the field of crypto.
In the future, Kaupr will cover developments in the Cardano network in a journalistic manner, in line with other blockchains, as well as specific Cardano-based projects, without discouraging or recommending them. The same policy is also applied when we follow Arcario, K33 and their analyses.
