Charles Hoskinson, the founder of Cardano (ADA), vigorously defended himself against accusations that governments could pressure him to censor the blockchain. Responding directly to a viral post that claimed he could be forced to confiscate users' assets, Hoskinson replied with a challenge and a sarcastic meme from the movie 'Vacation,' mocking the notion that a decentralized protocol like Cardano could be manually censored on demand.
This is in response to a thread where a user argued that, unlike Bitcoin, Cardano and other altcoins could be shut down or manipulated through their founders or central entities. Hoskinson dismissed the entire premise as misinformed FUD.
card
This is not the first time Cardano has been dragged into a debate about control, censorship, or centralization. Over the years, critics have claimed everything from slow development cycles to accusations of 'ghost chain', despite the chain running more than 150 dApps and smart contracts.
I would love for someone to explain to me how a government can tell me to censor Cardano.
— Charles Hoskinson (@IOHK_Charles) July 3, 2025
One of the recurring claims is that ADA's development is too dependent on the IOHK team and lacks sufficient decentralization — something Hoskinson has publicly challenged through open governance proposals and community-driven initiatives.
card
More recently, Hoskinson sparked new controversy with his $100 million DeFi stimulus idea. He proposed that the Cardano Foundation's treasury deploy ADA to buy native DeFi assets — like USDM, USDA, and even Bitcoin — to increase liquidity and adoption in the ecosystem. While some praised it as a bold move towards financial utility, others took to social media to spread fears that a $100 million sell-off could 'sink' the price of ADA.
At the time of publication, ADA was trading around $0.6 — far from its peak of $3.10 but stable in the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization.