Ethereum UTXO Proposal Sparks Cardano Copying Claim From Charles Hoskinson

Ethereum Foundation researcher Toni Wahrstätter has proposed a new payment model that could significantly reduce Ethereum’s long-term blockchain state, prompting Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson to accuse the network of adopting ideas pioneered by Cardano’s Extended Unspent Transaction Output (EUTXO) model.

The proposal introduces native UTXOs as one-shot payment objects, meaning they exist only temporarily instead of creating permanent account records. Under Ethereum’s current account-based system, the first transaction sent to a new address permanently adds a state entry. Wahrstätter argues that many simple payments do not require this permanent storage and can instead be verified from transaction history while leaving only a minimal spent marker on-chain.

The concept draws inspiration from Bitcoin’s UTXO model, where each transaction output is created once, spent once, and then removed from the active state. According to Wahrstätter, the approach could reduce permanent storage requirements for payment-related transactions by approximately 99.8%. While a new Ethereum account typically consumes 100 to 150 bytes of state, a native UTXO would leave behind only about 0.3 bytes.

The proposal builds on the upcoming Frame Transactions standard, EIP-8141, and aligns with Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin’s Lean Ethereum roadmap, which aims to simplify the network and reduce state growth. Wahrstätter also credited Buterin for encouraging discussion around the concept. However, the proposal remains in the research phase, and no formal Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP) has been submitted.

Hoskinson quickly reacted, arguing that Ethereum developers are effectively replicating Cardano’s EUTXO architecture without recognizing its origins. In a post on X, he described EUTXO as one of the most significant innovations in smart contract technology and claimed Ethereum has consistently avoided acknowledging Cardano’s contributions. He added that Cardano once ranked third by market capitalization and served millions of users.

Despite the public exchange, cryptocurrency markets showed little response. ADA traded near $0.17 after gaining 12.5% over the past week, while Ethereum changed hands around $1,754 with a market capitalization of roughly $211 billion. Since the proposal is still under discussion, any implementation would require extensive community review and a future hard fork before becoming part of the Ethereum network.