Cardano’s Hoskinson Drops Bombshell: XRP Integration and Midnight Airdrop Confirmed
Charles Hoskinson just lit the fuse on crypto Twitter—Cardano will integrate XRP ledger functionality, with a surprise midnight airdrop for holders. The move strategically positions ADA as a bridge asset between major ecosystems.
Why this matters:
Cross-chain interoperability wars heat up as networks scramble to avoid becoming ’ghost chains’ in the next bull run. Cardano’s play? Absorb liquidity wherever it exists—even from ’that’ coin the SEC loves to hate.
The cynical take:
Because nothing revives trader enthusiasm like free tokens dropped during low-liquidity hours—except maybe another Bitcoin ETF approval. Your portfolio won’t moon, but the 3AM crypto spam channels sure will.
In a recent “Ask Me Anything” session on YouTube, Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson dropped major updates on two key partnerships. While talks with Ripple’s XRP team are progressing smoothly, he revealed that the collaboration with Chainlink is taking longer than anticipated.
Hoskinson sounded very positive about Cardano’s work with Ripple. He shared that soon, XRP will be supported in Cardano’s Lace wallet, allowing users to store their XRP safely.
Launched in April 2023, the Lace Wallet started with support for Cardano native assets like ADA but has since evolved into a multi-chain wallet through several updates. This integration will allow users to seamlessly manage XRP alongside ADA and BTC directly from the wallet.
XRP Holders To Be Included In Midnight Airdrop
He confirmed the feature is in development but didn’t specify when it will be rolled out. XRP holders will also be included in the Midnight airdrop, Cardano’s new privacy project. Earlier, he shared that the NIGHT airdrop will reach 37 million users, including XRP holders, across eight blockchains, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Cardano, and XRP Ledger.
Talking about stablecoins, he mentioned that discussions with RLUSD are ongoing, hinting that Cardano might soon support Ripple’s fiat-backed stablecoin. Hoskinson added that his strong ties with Ripple’s team, especially with CTO David Schwartz, is speeding up their collaboration.
He also shared that Flare Network plans to bring its oracle services to Cardano, expanding the partnership beyond Ripple.
Chainlink Delayed Due to Codebase Issues
Coming to Chainlink, Hoskinson noted that things are still friendlier with Chainlink’s founder, Sergey Nazarov, but the partnership has not moved forward yet. Chainlink is working on a new framework for integration, but it has been delayed several times, often by three to six months.
The delays were due to Chainlink’s outdated codebase and complex updates, while noting other oracle options like Pyth Network and Flare.
