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Author: Zen, PANews
With the ADA designated by Trump as one of the strategic reserves of cryptocurrencies, Cardano and its founder Charles Hoskinson have once again become the focus of the media.As an early evangelist of Bitcoin, a creator of Ethereum, and a creator of Cardano, Charles, who has long been a billionaire, has often been known in an alternative way in the past few years: he not only contributes money to find alien civilizations, opens medical research institutions, and even runs 10,000 acres of ranches, and is involved in the traditional animal husbandry industry.When Cardano is once again a hot topic of industry concern, Charles’ story is worthy of our recap.
Early Believers and Evangelists of Bitcoin
In 2008, Charles Hoskinson majored in mathematics and analytical number theory at university. In addition to mathematics, he was also interested in studying monetary policy.In the same year, he participated in Republican Rep. Ron Paul “Campiagn for Liberty”.Ron advocates abolition of the Federal Reserve because he believes that it does not only fail to control inflation, but rather creates inflation, creates economic depression and hollows out personal assets.A few years later, when he heard about Bitcoin, he didn’t take it seriously at first because he believed that the success of a currency is not about technology or dreams, but how many people are willing to use it.
Until 2013, Charles changed his mind and began to believe that Bitcoin would change human money transactions, business relations, corporate behavior, property certification and democracy models.He started buying Bitcoin, mining, and founded the Bitcoin Education Project, spreading a series of Bitcoin education courses on the Internet for free, from monetary policy to blockchain technology, and also established a partnership with Bitcoin Magazine.
At that time, Bitcoin was still in its infancy, the community was small, and it was not difficult to establish connections between people in the industry.As long as you are enthusiastic enough, you can quickly enter the core circle, and Charles is one of them.During this period, Charles also met several early Bitcoin preachers and technology experts through offline gatherings, and began his first entrepreneurial attempt – the decentralized exchange platform Bitshares.
Bitshares was co-founded by Charles and Daniel Larimer (nicknamed “BM”), who later founded EOS, and later parted ways due to different business philosophy.Charles later said he believed that due to the introduction of venture capital, the company’s decision-making must also be responsible for shareholders, and diversified opinions are also beneficial to the company’s development, but BM tends to make independent decisions and does not want others to intervene.In the early stages of the business, BM’s father Stan Larimer also participated in Bitshares, and the apartment Charles lives in was provided by Stan.Therefore, after the opinions were divided, Charles had to voluntarily withdraw.
The “Senior” of Ethereum’s Creation hastily left
In October 2013, Anthony Di lorio of the Canadian Bitcoin Alliance and Mihai Alisie of Bitcoin Magazine convened Charles and later Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin to jointly start an ecological concept for a programming language for blockchain applications. Later, Gavin Wood, Jeffrey Wilcke and Joe Lubin were also invited to participate in the discussion.
In January 2014, the North American Bitcoin Conference held in Miami, in an Anthony rented beach cabin, the Ethereum project was born.At this time, Charles, CEO of Ethereum, has quietly completed the transformation from a crypto evangelist to a core participant in the industry.
However, while Ethereum is rapidly advancing development, it has to face key management choices – whether to build Ethereum into a profitable enterprise, or operate in a non-profit model?This issue sparked heated debate within the founding team.Charles argues that Ethereum should use Google as an example to build a for-profit company in order to obtain more resources to accelerate its development.Vitalik insists that Ethereum should maintain a decentralized spirit and adopt a non-profit model, and this long-term plan has also been supported by most internal members.
Finally, Charles chose to leave again due to disagreement in philosophy, and his Ethereum CEO title was also invalidated.At this time, Ethereum was founded in just half a year.Years later, Charles looked back on his position on Ethereum and admitted that perhaps Vitalik’s non-profit model is the path that is more suitable for Ethereum.Facts have also proved that Ethereum’s success is inseparable from the promotion of the community and the development of the open source ecosystem.
New Journey: Charles and his Cardano “Kingdom of Independence”
According to Charles, after leaving Ethereum, he considered returning to academia and completing his Ph.D.But fate seems to have made other arrangements for him – during this gap in thinking about life, Charles met former Ethereum colleague Jeremy Wood.The two hit it off and co-founded IOHK (Input Output Hong Kong), a company focused on blockchain and cryptocurrency engineering and research.
In the early days of their business, they invested only a few thousand dollars, but soon received many blockchain development contracts, and IOHK was paid in the form of Bitcoin.Fortunately, the Bitcoin market then ushered in a bull market, and IOHK quickly achieved huge profits, giving them enough funds to independently develop blockchain without relying on external financing.So Cardano was born.It is worth mentioning that when Cardano was founded in 2017, Charles firmly refused to introduce venture capital, and he believed that capital intervention would violate the core principle of “decentralization” in the crypto industry.He said venture capitalists tend to get “a profit that belongs to them” from the project first, which runs contrary to the open spirit of cryptocurrencies.
With Cardano’s rapid development, IOHK has enough funds to sponsor research laboratories at the University of Edinburgh and Tokyo University of Technology, which ultimately promoted the birth of the Ouroboros consensus protocol and became the core mechanism of Cardano blockchain.In 2018, Cardano also announced a cooperation with the Ethiopian government to explore the application possibilities of blockchain technology.However, the bear market at that time put the entire crypto industry into a trough, and Cardano also entered a downturn.It was not until 2021 that Cardano gradually recovered as the market was in progress, and its Ada tokens also climbed to its all-time high of more than $2.
It is worth mentioning that compared with other Layer1s such as Ethereum and Solana, Cardano’s transaction volume and activity cannot be compared, so it is often criticized as a “zombie chain” and criticized for seemingly surviving entirely by relying on the popularity of the creators.Even so, as of March 6, Cardano (Ada)’s full circulating market value was still as high as US$42.7 billion, and its circulating market value exceeded US$34 billion.
The reason why Cardano is very popular in the Japanese market and is even called “Japan Ethereum” is largely related to its early financing model.It is reported that nearly 95% of Cardano’s public offerings come from Japanese investors, also known as “retirement investment”, mainly because this public offering was dominated by Japanese company Emurgo. At that time, Japan’s regulatory environment was relatively loose compared to Europe and the United States, which also made Cardano misunderstood as a Japanese project.But as the U.S. crypto policy is gradually opening up, Cardano is gradually fading its impression of Japan.
Political Betting: From JFK to Trump
In April 2024, Charles Hoskinson announced his support for Robert F. Kennedy Jr., RFK Jr. as President of the United States.Robert Kennedy Jr. believes intelligence agencies, tech platforms and regulators have gone beyond their purview, which Charles believes resonates with the liberal foundation of his blockchain cause, and he also praised Kennedy’s subtle stance on various issues such as immigration policy and drug regulation.In August 2024, when Kennedy withdrew from the election and joined Trump’s camp, Charles also became a Trump supporter.
On November 9, after Trump’s victory, Charles announced in his podcast that he would work with the Trump administration for much of next year to create clear regulatory rules for the cryptocurrency industry.He noted that he would do this with several other industry leaders.As soon as the news came out, ADA’s price soared, up more than 40% in 24 hours, reaching its highest level in seven months, exceeding $0.6.
On March 2, U.S. President Trump announced on social media that his executive order for digital assets directed the presidential task force to advance strategic reserves of cryptocurrencies including XRP, SOL and ADA.Trump also said he would ensure that the United States becomes the world’s cryptocurrency capital and is making the United States great again.As soon as the news came out, ADA soared, with its price rising from a high of $0.65 to above $1.10.
Charles Hoskinson later responded that he knew nothing about “the Trump team seeking to include ADA in cryptocurrency reserves.””We didn’t know about this at all, and no one talked to us about it. When I woke up on March 2, I received 150 congratulatory messages, but I really don’t know what happened.” Judging from his uninvited to attend the White House Cryptocurrency Summit on March 8, perhaps Charles did not expect “ADA is great again.”
All-rounders who are “not doing their jobs”: aliens, cattle raising and plant genetic modification
After a great success in the cryptocurrency and blockchain field and becoming a billionaire, Charles Hoskinson has also actively devoted himself to charity.In 2021, he donated about $20 million to Carnegie Mellon University to build the “Hoskinson Mathematics Center.”In addition, in 2023, he also funded $1.5 million and traveled with Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb to Papua New Guinea to find “meteor fragments” that fell into the Pacific Ocean in 2014. Although the results were not satisfactory – the Loeb team claimed that tiny metal balls of objects created by alien life were found on the seabed, according to a statement from the American Astronomical Society, the chemical composition provided by Loeb analysis is closest to coal ash produced by humans.
In addition to finding alien life, Charles Hoskinson has also invested in a variety of work and new businesses, including not limited to animal husbandry, catering, medical care, plant genetic engineering and private jet rental.
Charles owns an 11,000-acre ranch near Whitland, Wyoming, and raises more than five hundred bisons.And because the nearby town lacks good dining options, he simply opens the Nessie restaurant and whiskey lounge in Whitland himself.Charles also repeatedly stressed that his restaurant will be crypto-friendly.Additionally, Charles, born into a family of doctors (both father and brothers are doctors), opened the Hoskinson Health and Health Clinic in Gillette, Wyoming, focusing on anti-aging and regenerative medicine, which is said to cost $18 million.
“If you want to solve global warming problems or improve the environment, then it makes sense to participate in plant genetic engineering.” Charles has also become obsessed with luminescent plants in recent years. He said that targeted genetically modified plants can not only produce organic lighting, but also store carbon, eliminate toxic chemicals, and provide other environmental benefits.According to Charles, his team has successfully transformed plant species including cultivation of tobacco and Arabidopsis.
However, according to a report, Charles Hoskinson’s private jet flew a total of 562 hours in 2022, with a flight distance of about 456,000 kilometers, which is greater than the distance between the moon and the apogee of the earth.His pollution caused by private jets ranks among the top 15 in the United States, and its emissions surpass billionaires such as Mark Zuckerberg and Kim Kardashian and Hollywood celebrities.Charles said it was because his private jet was good enough, so he worked with a third-party company to rent the plane to private clients, and he also said his regular customers include rock band Metallica and Hollywood superstar Dwayne Johnson.
In response, Charles teased in a video: “My personal energy consumption may be quite high, not only because I have a jet, but also because I have a large ranch in Wyoming with 500 bisons.”
A blockchain pioneer who is controversial and fake resume?
Last August, he had an interview conversation with Charles before Robert Kennedy Jr. left the campaign.And it caused a lot of criticism before the airing, and many complained that RFK Jr. should not talk to “scammers.”
Charles Hoskinson has always been controversial.In his personal experience, Laura Shin, a well-known cryptocurrency journalist, criticized and questioned Charles in his book The Cryptopian, which deeply explored the early development history of Bitcoin.The book points out that there is no evidence that Hoskinson had pursued a doctorate degree, and his highest degree may be just a bachelor’s degree.In addition, Laura accused Charles of exaggerating his resume and lied that he had connections with the CIA and DARPA (U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency), and the authenticity of these claims is doubtful.
Faced with doubts, Charles sarcastically said on social media: “This book is a good fictional work, but it is still a bit difficult to surpass Tolkien (author of The Hobbit) and George R. R. Martin (author of Songs of Ice and Fire).” Laura immediately fired back, emphasizing that all his content has undergone strict fact verification.
Disputes are controversial, and Cardano, which is now popular, is still developing, although its technical strength and market positioning are still discussed from different angles.As an important figure in the blockchain industry, Charles has undoubtedly become an important chapter in the crypto world, regardless of whether his past boasts are true or not, no matter whether his choice is correct.
