Cardano founder denies ADA misappropriation allegations, plans to use legal means to fight back
In a recent public opinion storm, Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson responded to allegations that he used the genesis key to transfer over $600 million worth of unclaimed ICO tokens.
Hoskinson described these allegations as highly personal and destructive. He criticized on social media the damage these accusations have done to his reputation and noted that this incident has reshaped his view of his relationship with the Cardano community.
Hoskinson stated that although he has been fighting on the front lines, these accusations, without solid evidence, have made the trust and connections between him and certain individuals possibly not as strong as he had imagined.
On May 7, Hoskinson responded for the first time to such allegations. He refuted the claims, stating that investors redeemed 99.8% of the ADA vouchers, and the remaining 0.2% would be returned to the token issuer according to the agreement rules after the seven-year period ends, and donated to Intersect, a member organization of the Cardano ecosystem.
Additionally, Hoskinson revealed that an external audit report would be released soon to clarify the details of the redemption history and crowdfunding process. He also plans to hand over the management of his social media accounts to the media team after the audit results are published to reduce his direct involvement on social media.
He further stated that Input Output Global (IOG) may take legal action against those who continue to accuse him of transferring unclaimed ADA from the 2017 Cardano token generation event.
Meanwhile, the Cardano Foundation also issued a statement on May 19 welcoming the third-party audit of IOG and suggested that it include all MIR transactions, balances, and any returns generated during the fund management period.
Although most presale ADA vouchers have been redeemed, a small number remain unredeemed. At the same time, the Shelley hard fork will render unredeemed ADA tokens invalid, so these token redemptions need to be completed as soon as possible.
As events unfold, community members and investors will pay closer attention to the progress of the audit results and legal actions in hopes of gaining more comprehensive information.
This incident also serves as a reminder to the entire industry that while rapidly developing, it must continuously strengthen compliance and communication mechanisms to maintain the long-term healthy development of projects and the stability of the community.
