Charles Hoskinson Develops New Programming Language for Cardano Network

Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson is developing a new programming language designed to combine transaction instructions with cryptographic proofs. He has yet to reveal its name, technical specifications or expected launch date.

Hoskinson announced the project on X on Sunday, saying he is personally working on the language for the Cardano blockchain. He is collaborating with Lucas Rosa, a software engineer at Input Output Global and co-creator of Aiken, one of the network’s leading smart contract languages.

The move is notable because Hoskinson is taking a hands-on role in building a tool that could shape how future Cardano applications are developed, despite having an established team of engineers at his company.

The proposed language is expected to support three core features: transaction intents, proof-carrying data and Groth16 proofs.

Transaction intents allow users to describe the outcome they want without specifying every step required to achieve it. For example, a trader could request a token swap that proceeds only if the final price satisfies certain conditions, leaving the application to determine how to execute the transaction.

Proof-carrying data embeds cryptographic evidence alongside information to demonstrate that it meets predefined requirements. Other applications can then verify the evidence without repeating all the computations used to produce it.

Groth16 is a widely adopted cryptographic proof system that generates compact proofs that computers can verify efficiently. It can demonstrate that specific conditions have been satisfied without disclosing the underlying private information.

Combined, these capabilities could help developers create applications that coordinate trades, evaluate complex conditions and exchange verified information across services. Cardano could then validate a compact cryptographic proof rather than independently repeating every calculation.

Cardano already supports smart contract development through Plutus, which is based on Haskell, and Aiken. Meanwhile, Midnight, the privacy-focused blockchain developed by Input Output Global, uses its own programming language, Compact, to build applications that work with confidential information.

However, several details about Hoskinson’s new project remain unknown. He has not announced a name for the language, published publicly available code or provided a timeline for when developers might be able to use it.