Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson is building a new programming language
Hoskinson says he is writing the language himself
Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson says he is building a new programming language for Cardano, the blockchain network he founded. A programming language is the tool developers use to write the apps that run on a network.
He announced the project in a post on X on Sunday. He said he is working on it with Lucas Rosa, a software engineer at Input Output Global who helped create Aiken, one of Cardano's main smart contract languages. A smart contract is a program that runs on a blockchain and follows its rules automatically.
Hoskinson says the language would be the first to pair what a user wants a transaction to do with cryptographic proof that the rules were followed.
Three tools the language would support
According to CoinDesk's report, the language would combine three things:
- Transaction intents — a user states the result they want and leaves the steps to the app. For example, a trader could ask to swap one token for another only if the final price meets certain conditions, without spelling out how to get there.
- Proof-carrying data — cryptographic evidence is attached to information, showing it follows certain rules. Another app can check that evidence without redoing every calculation behind it.
- Groth16 proofs — a widely used proof system that produces very small proofs computers can check quickly. Such proofs can show a condition was met without revealing the private data used to meet it.
Together, the report says, developers could build apps that coordinate trades, check complicated conditions and pass verified information between services, with Cardano checking a small proof at the end.
What Cardano developers use today
Cardano developers already write smart contracts in Plutus, which is built on the programming language Haskell, and in Aiken. Midnight, a privacy-focused blockchain built by Hoskinson's company Input Output Global, has its own language, Compact, for apps that handle confidential data.
No name, no code, no date
The project is at an early stage. Hoskinson has not shared the language's name, released any public code, or announced when developers will be able to use it. Nothing beyond his own X post has been published, so the details reported by CoinDesk rest on his statements and have not been independently verified from the supplied material.
Why the choice of builder is notable
CoinDesk notes that a founder personally writing a core tool for a network of Cardano's size is unusual, and that Hoskinson runs a company staffed with engineers while choosing to write the tool future Cardano apps could be built on himself.
Sources
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