Ethereum researchers published a paper proposing native support for Unspent Transaction Output (UTXO) for the network’s execution layer, and Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson responded on
In a July 7 tweet, Hoskinson said: “It’s not like I literally worked on this for over 10 years of my life and launched a cryptocurrency that was number three on CoinMarketCap with millions of users to support it.
This war of words between Cardano and Ethereum comes as ADA outperforms ETH on the day, up +0.7% over the last 24 hours, compared to +0.4% for Ethereum over the same period.
It’s not like I literally worked on this for over 10 years of my life and launched a cryptocurrency that was number three on coinmarketcap with millions of users deploying it. It’s literally a crime in Ethereum’s inner circles to mention Cardano. EUTXO is the…
– Charles Hoskinson (@IOHK_Charles) July 7, 2026
What the Ethereum document actually offers
The research paper identifies a structural cost in Ethereum’s account model: each time a new address first receives ETH or an ERC-20 token, it generates persistent state storage that accumulates indefinitely as the user base grows.
The paper proposes using native UTXOs specifically for simple payment transactions that do not require persistent account storage, projecting an approximately 99.8% reduction in persistent state for these payments.
The main mechanical distinction is that a UTXO is created once, spent once, and then deleted. It leaves no residual imprint on the network state. It is important to note that the proposal does not replace Ethereum’s existing account model; the smart contract business would continue to operate exactly as it does today.
This is a targeted fix for a specific scalability issue, not a global architectural change. The document has not been formalized as an Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP) and has no confirmed implementation timeline.
Double top or Double bottom
Which one will play for $ETH? pic.twitter.com/L3arwnGl3I
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Hoskinson’s prior art argument
Hoskinson said on
Unlike Bitcoin’s UTXO, Cardano’s design integrates data, redeemers, and scripting context, allowing smart contracts to operate as deterministic local state machines without needing to access the global state of the blockchain.
This determinism is essential because the validity of a transaction relies solely on its inputs, leading to predictable fees and improved parallelism between UTXO sets, while minimizing initial risks.
Hoskinson highlighted that Cardano had reached the third position on CoinMarketCap, with millions of users testing the viability of this model.
Importantly, the ten-year timeline is for research and design, while Cardano’s smart contract functionality, fully utilizing eUTXO, launched with the Alonzo upgrade in September 2021 and was developed through IOHK’s research pipeline.
(SOURCE: DéfiLlama)
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Cardano community reaction and convergence argument
Dori, a figure in the Cardano community, claimed that Ethereum’s continued state growth creates structural weaknesses by increasing node storage costs and concentrating validation power.
He linked Ethereum’s account model to issues such as MEV, re-entry attacks, and limitations of parallel transaction processing, suggesting that the eUTXO design effectively addresses these issues.
From a neutral perspective, Ethereum and Cardano address similar challenges in state location and transaction processing, albeit through different approaches. Other projects, like Ergo and Nervos CKB, have also adopted UTXO-style models.
The blockchain architecture debate focuses on tradeoffs relevant to specific use cases. At the same time, Ethereum’s account model offers an advantage in synchronous DeFi composability, which is crucial for complex, multi-step financial transactions.
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Leios and what’s next for Cardano
$ADA Big rally last week and stand out among the majors.
Usually, coins like these moving tend to be a decent sign of overall altcoin risk appetite, but I would like to see a follow-up step to properly confirm this.
A head start usually comes with a decent amount of… pic.twitter.com/0iUDYQF0Xt
– Daan Crypto Trades (@DaanCrypto) July 6, 2026
The debate comes at a time when Cardano is pursuing its most significant throughput upgrade to date. Hoskinson said the planned Leios upgrade could increase Cardano’s transaction throughput by up to 60 times, a level he said would put the network’s processing speed on par with that of the XRP Ledger.
He also emphasized that progress depends on governance approval by the Cardano community, introducing a procedural dependency that makes the timeline uncertain.
If Leios achieves this projection, it would significantly narrow the performance gap that has historically been cited as a constraint to the adoption of ADA-based DeFi.
Whether Ethereum’s native UTXO research ever moves from paper to protocol, the conversation it has sparked is already working, forcing a close comparison of two mature blockchain architecture philosophies that have been talking to each other for years.
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Cardano’s eUTXO Model Takes Center Stage as Ethereum Eyes UTXO Adoption appeared first on 99Bitcoins.
