Author: Zen, PANews

As ADA was designated by Trump as one of the strategic reserves of cryptocurrencies, Cardano and its founder Charles Hoskinson once again became 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. In 2008, Charles Hoskinson majored in mathematics and analytical number theory at university. In addition to mathematics, he was also interested in studying currency. 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 rights certification and democracy models. He started buying Bitcoin, mining, and founded the Bitcoin Education Project, spreading a series of Bitcoin education courses from currency to blockchain technology for free on the Internet, and also established a partnership with Bitcoin Magazine.

At that time, Bitcoin was still in its infancy, and the community was very small, and it was not difficult to establish a connection 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 technical experts through offline gatherings and beganThe first entrepreneurial attempt - 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 "old" of the creation of Ethereum 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 a beach wooden house rented by Anthony, 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 at the timeEthereum's position admits 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 "King of Independence"

According to Charles, he considered returning to academia and completing his doctorate. 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 sufficient 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 Ethiopia 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 an 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 circulation market value was still as high as 42.7 billion.The US dollar has a circulating market value of over 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 US encryption is increasingly open, Cardano is gradually fading its impression of Japan.

Bet: 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 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 Trump 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 subsequently responded that he knew nothing about "the Trump team seeking to include the ADA in cryptocurrency reserves." "We didn't know about it at all, and no one talked to us about it. When I woke up on March 2, I received 150 congratulations, but I really don't know what's going on. "From his uninvited to attend the White House Cryptocurrency Summit on March 8, perhaps Charles is indeed unexpected for "ADA is great again".

The "no business" versatile: aliens, cattle raising and plant genetic modification

Charles Hoskinson is also actively engaged in charity after he was successful in the cryptocurrency and blockchain field and becoming a billionaire. In 2021, he donated about $20 million to Carnegie Mellon University to establish the "Hoskinson Mathematics Center." In addition, in 2023, he also funded $1.5 million and traveled with Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb to search for 2014 Although the results were not satisfactory - the Loeb team claimed to have discovered tiny metal balls of objects created by alien life on the seabed, according to the statement of 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 a variety of work and new businesses, including not limited to animal husbandry, catering, medical care, plant genetic engineering, and private jet rental.

Charles has an area of ​​11,000 near Whitland, Wyoming Acres of ranch, with more than 500 bisons. Because the nearby town lacks good dining options, he simply opens the Nessie Restaurant and Whiskey Lounge in Whitland by himself. Charles has repeatedly stressed that his restaurant will be crypto-friendly. In addition, Charles, born in a doctor’s family (both father and brother are doctors), has 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 or improve the environment, it makes sense to participate in plant genetic engineering. "Charles has also become obsessed with luminous 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, the types of plants his team has successfully transformed include cultivation of tobacco and Arabidopsis.

However, according to a report, Charles Hoskin in 2022Son's private jet flew 562 hours in total, 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."

The controversial and fake blockchain pioneer?

Last August, before Robert Kennedy Jr. left the campaign, he had an interview conversation with Charles. 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.

The dispute is controversy, and the hot Cardano 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.