Author: Zen, PANews
With ADA being designated by Trump as one of the strategic cryptocurrency reserves, Cardano and its founder Charles Hoskinson have once again become the focus of the media. As an early evangelist of Bit, a founding member of Ethereum, and the creator of Cardano, the billionaire Charles has often been known in recent years in an alternative way: not only has he invested money and effort to search for extraterrestrial civilizations, set up medical research institutions, and even run a ranch of thousands of acres, he has also ventured into the traditional livestock industry.
Early Bit Believer and Evangelist
In 2008, Charles Hoskinson was majoring in mathematics and analytic number theory at the university, and in addition to mathematics, he was also interested in the study of monetary policy. That same year, he participated in the "Campaign for Liberty" of Republican Congressman Ron Paul. Ron advocated the abolition of the Federal Reserve, as he believed it not only failed to control inflation, but was the culprit behind creating inflation, causing economic recessions, and depleting personal assets. A few years later, when he heard about Bit, he initially did not pay much attention to it, as he believed that the success of a currency does not depend on technology or dreams, but on how many people are willing to use it.
Until 2013, Charles changed his mind and began to believe that Bit would change human monetary transactions, business relationships, corporate behavior, property rights certification, and democratic models. He started buying Bit, mining, and founded the "Bit Education Project", offering a series of free online Bit education courses covering topics from monetary policy to blockchain technology, and also established a partnership with Bit Magazine.
At that time, Bit was still in its infancy, and the community was small, but it was not difficult to establish connections among the people in the industry. As long as one was passionate enough, one could quickly enter the core circle, and Charles was one of them. During this period, Charles also met many early Bit evangelists and technical 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, but they parted ways due to differences in management philosophy. Charles later said he believed that with the introduction of venture capital, the company's decision-making must be accountable to shareholders, and diverse opinions would also benefit the company's development, but BM tended to make autonomous decisions and did not want others to interfere. In the early days of the startup, BM's father Stan Larimer also participated in Bitshares, and the apartment where Charles lived was provided by Stan. Therefore, after the disagreement, Charles had to voluntarily withdraw.
The Hasty Departure from the Ethereum Genesis "Elder"
In October 2013, the Canadian Bit Alliance's Anthony Di lorio and Bit Magazine's Mihai Alisie gathered Charles and the future Ethereum founders Vitalik Buterin to start a conceptual ecosystem for a programming language for blockchain applications, and later Gavin Wood, Jeffrey Wilcke and Joe Lubin were also invited to participate in the discussions.
In January 2014, at the North American Bit Conference in Miami, in a beach hut rented by Anthony, with nearly thirty people gathered, the Ethereum project was born. At this time, Charles, as the CEO of Ethereum, had quietly completed the transformation from a crypto evangelist to a core industry participant.
However, as Ethereum was rapidly advancing its development, it also had to face key management decisions - whether to build Ethereum into a for-profit enterprise or to operate in a non-profit mode? This issue sparked heated debate within the founding team. Charles advocated that Ethereum should be modeled after Google, establishing a for-profit company in order to obtain more resources to accelerate development. But Vitalik insisted that Ethereum should maintain its decentralized spirit and adopt a non-profit model, and this long-term plan was supported by the majority of internal members.
Eventually, due to differences in ideology again, Charles chose to leave, and his title as Ethereum CEO was also invalidated. At this time, Ethereum had only been established for less than half a year. Years later, Charles reviewed his stance at Ethereum at the time, admitting that Vitalik's non-profit model might be the more suitable path for Ethereum. And the facts have proven that Ethereum's success is inseparable from the drive of the community and the development of the open-source ecosystem.
New Journey: Charles and His Cardano "Independent Kingdom"
According to Charles, after leaving Ethereum, he considered returning to academia to complete his doctoral studies. But fate seemed to have other plans for him - during this period of contemplating his life, Charles met his former Ethereum colleague Jeremy Wood. The two hit it off immediately and co-founded a company focused on blockchain and cryptocurrency engineering and research, IOHK (Input Output Hong Kong).
In the early days of the startup, they only invested a few thousand dollars, but soon received many blockchain development contracts, and IOHK was paid in Bit. Fortunately, the Bit market soon entered a bull market, and IOHK quickly realized substantial profits, giving them enough funds to independently research and develop blockchain without relying on external financing. And so, Cardano was born. It is worth mentioning that when creating Cardano in 2017, Charles firmly refused to introduce venture capital, as he believed that the involvement of capital would go against the core principle of "decentralization" in the crypto industry. He stated that venture capitalists often seek to extract "their share of profits" from the project first, which is contrary to the open spirit of cryptocurrencies.
As Cardano developed rapidly, IOHK had enough funds to sponsor research labs at the University of Edinburgh and Tokyo Institute of Technology, ultimately driving the birth of the Ouroboros consensus protocol, which became the core mechanism of the Cardano blockchain. In 2018, Cardano also announced a collaboration with the Ethiopian government to explore the potential applications of blockchain technology. However, the bear market at the time plunged the entire crypto industry into a downturn, and Cardano also entered a slump. Until 2021, Cardano gradually recovered with the market, and its ADA token even reached a historical high of over $2.
It is worth mentioning that compared to Ethereum, Solana and other Layer1 blockchains, Cardano's transaction volume and activity are not comparable, and it is often criticized as a "zombie chain" that seems to survive solely on the popularity of its creator. Even so, as of March 6, Cardano's (ADA) total circulating market cap was still as high as $42.7 billion, with a circulating market cap of over $34 billion.
The reason why Cardano is so popular in the Japanese market, even being called the "Japanese Ethereum", is largely related to its early fundraising model. It is reported that nearly 95% of Cardano's public offering buyers were Japanese investors, also known as "retirement investments", mainly because this public offering was led by the Japanese company Emurgo, and at the time the regulatory environment in Japan was relatively more relaxed compared to Europe and the US, which led to Cardano being misunderstood as a Japanese project. But as US crypto policies have become increasingly open, Cardano is gradually fading its Japanese impression.
Political Bets: From JFK Jr. to Trump
In April 2024, Charles Hoskinson announced his support for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (RFK Jr.) to run for US President. RFK Jr. believes that intelligence agencies, tech platforms, and regulatory agencies have exceeded their authority, and Charles felt this resonated with the libertarian foundation of his blockchain business, and he also praised Kennedy's nuanced positions on various issues such as immigration policy and drug regulation. In August 2024, when Kennedy withdrew from the race and joined Trump's camp, Charles also became a supporter of Trump.
On November 9 last year, after Trump's victory, Charles announced on his podcast that he would work with the Trump administration for most of next year to establish clear regulatory guidelines for the cryptocurrency industry. He pointed out that he would do this together with several other industry leaders. As soon as the news was out, the price of ADA soared, rising more than 40% in 24 hours, reaching its highest level in 7 months, exceeding $0.6.
On March 2, US President Trump announced on social media that his digital asset executive order directs the President's Working Group to advance a cryptocurrency strategy that includes XRP, SOL and ADA. Trump also said he would ensure that the US becomes the world capital of cryptocurrency, and is making America great again. As soon as the news came out, ADA immediately skyrocketed, with its price rising from $0.65 to over $1.10.
Charles Hoskinson later responded that he had no knowledge of the "Trump team seeking to include ADA in the cryptocurrency reserve." "We didn't know about this at all, and no one has talked to us about it. When I woke up on March 2, I received 150 congratulatory messages, but I really didn't know what was going on." Given that he was not invited to the White House cryptocurrency summit on March 8, perhaps Charles was indeed unprepared for "ADA becoming great again".
A 'Jack of All Trades': Aliens, Cattle Ranching and Plant Genetic Engineering
After achieving great success in the cryptocurrency and blockchain field and becoming a billionaire, Charles Hoskinson has also actively engaged in philanthropic work. In 2021, he donated about $20 million to Carnegie Mellon University to establish the "Hoskinson Center for Mathematics." In addition, in 2023, he also funded $1.5 million and traveled with Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb to Papua New Guinea to search for the "meteor fragments" that fell into the Pacific in 2014, although the result was not as expected - Loeb's team claimed to have found tiny metallic spheres on the seabed that were created by extraterrestrial life, but according to the American Astronomical Society, the chemical composition provided by Loeb is closest to human-produced coal ash.
In addition to searching for extraterrestrial life, Charles Hoskinson's work and new businesses are diverse, including but not limited to livestock, catering, healthcare, plant genetic engineering, and private jet rental.
Charles owns a 11,000-acre ranch near Wheatland, Wyoming, where he raises more than 500 bison. And due to the lack of good dining options in the nearby town, he has also opened the Nessie restaurant and whiskey lounge in Wheatland. Charles has also repeatedly emphasized that his restaurant will be cryptocurrency-friendly. In addition, born into a family of doctors (his father and brother are both doctors), Charles has also opened the Hoskinson Health and Wellness Clinic in Gillette, Wyoming, focusing on anti-aging and regenerative medicine, reportedly costing $18 million.
"If you want to solve the problem of global warming or improve the environment, then participating in plant genetic engineering makes sense." Charles has also become fascinated with bioluminescent plants in recent years, stating that genetically modified plants can not only produce organic lighting, but also sequester carbon, eliminate toxic chemicals, and provide other environmental benefits. According to Charles, his team has successfully modified plant species including cultivated tobacco and Arabidopsis.
However, according to a report, in 2022 Charles Hoskinson's private jet flew for 562 hours, covering a distance of about 456,000 kilometers, greater than the distance between the moon and the Earth's apogee. His private jet emissions rank among the top 15 in the US, exceeding billionaires and Hollywood celebrities like Mark Zuckerberg and Kim Kardashian. Charles said this is because his private jet is good enough to cooperate with third-party companies to rent out the jet to private clients, and his regular clients include the rock band Metallica and Hollywood superstar Dwayne Johnson.
Regarding this, Charles joked in a video, "My personal energy consumption may be quite high, not only because I have a private jet, but also because I have a large ranch in Wyoming with 500 bison."
A Controversial Blockchain Pioneer with a Questionable Resume?
Last August, before Robert F. Kennedy Jr. withdrew from the race, he had an interview dialogue with Charles. The broadcast sparked a lot of criticism, with many complaining that RFK Jr. should not have spoken with a "liar".
The famous is often beset by troubles, and Charles Hoskinson has been embroiled in controversies. Regarding his personal experience, well-known cryptocurrency journalist Laura Shin, in her book "The Cryptopian" which delved deeply into the early development history of Bitcoin, has criticized and questioned Charles. The book points out that there is no evidence that Hoskinson has ever pursued a doctoral degree, and his highest education may only be a bachelor's degree. In addition, Laura also accused Charles of exaggerating his resume, claiming to have connections with the CIA and DARPA (the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency), the authenticity of which is questionable.
Facing the criticism, Charles sarcastically commented on social media, "This book is a pretty good work of fiction, but it's a bit hard to surpass Tolkien (author of 'The Hobbit' and 'The Lord of the Rings') and George R.R. Martin (author of 'A Song of Ice and Fire')." Laura then hit back, emphasizing that all her content had undergone rigorous fact-checking.
Controversy aside, the currently hot Cardano is still constantly evolving, although its technical strength and market positioning are still being discussed from different angles. As an important figure in the blockchain industry, regardless of whether his past boasts are true or not, and whether his choices are correct, there is no doubt that his story has become an important chapter in the cryptocurrency world.
