u.today
Charles Hoskinson, the main man behind Cardano, just made an unexpected turn, publicly addressing the XRP community with a query as to which projects should be invited if an XRP-focused DeFi summit were hosted at the University of Edinburgh.
The post came suddenly and hit the timeline hard because the relationship between Hoskinson and XRP holders has been openly tense. This time the previous year, the Cardano founder accused portions of the XRP community of twisting his words and engaging in harassment, while firmly rejecting claims that Ethereum figures bribed the SEC to target Ripple.
Those disputes hardened opinions on both sides, making this outreach feel deliberate rather than casual, even though the hatchet was buried back then.
If we hosted an XRP DeFi summit at the University of Edinburgh, who are the top 15 projects to invite from the XRP community?
— Charles Hoskinson (@IOHK_Charles) December 12, 2025
In a new post, the tone changed. Instead of rebuttals or clarifications, Hoskinson went straight to builders, and replies indeed filled quickly with names tied to XRPL infrastructure, DeFi tooling and interoperability, suggesting that at least part of the XRP ecosystem is ready to engage if the door stays open.
Whether this signals a deeper alignment or a narrow academic initiative remains unresolved, but the signal itself is hard to ignore.
Solana + XRP + Cardano
Interestingly, almost simultaneously, Solana injected fuel into the narrative by hinting that the informal "alliance" between Ethereum and XRP — which, let's be honest, was never in place — may be ending right as XRP’s arrival into the Solana ecosystem was teased and then confirmed. Wrapped XRP on Solana, backed 1:1 and redeemable on XRPL, reframed XRP as a usable DeFi asset beyond its native rails.
Taken together, the pieces form a pattern: Cardano probing XRP builders, Solana onboarding XRP liquidity and Ethereum losing exclusivity over the broader DeFi conversation.