Cardano Hard Fork Expected Next Month, Hoskinson Confirms

Cardano (ADA) founder Charles Hoskinson said during a Feb. 19 livestream that the network is on track for a hard fork "next month" and that its long-awaited Leios scalability upgrade remains scheduled for delivery sometime this year, while also outlining what he described as growing ecosystem momentum around cross-chain connectivity, stablecoin access and the forthcoming Midnight network launch.

What Happened: Hard Fork Timeline Confirmed

Hoskinson addressed the protocol schedule directly: "Cardano hard fork is happening I believe next month. But you know the community is kind of working its way through that and getting these things done."

He framed the coming weeks as a convergence of two parallel tracks — protocol and developer-stack upgrades on one side, and the Midnight network launch on the other. He described Midnight, which he also expects "coming next month," as a project unusually difficult to ship even for teams with experience launching major chains.

On ecosystem developments, Hoskinson pointed to a newly announced LayerZero integration he said connects Cardano "to more than 80 blockchains," along with a stablecoin-like asset called USDCx designed for non-EVM systems. He drew a distinction between USDCx and standard USDC, saying the tradeoff gives Cardano users an asset that preserves "privacy" and "can't be frozen" — what he called "the best compromise" for a tier-one stablecoin in the ecosystem.