In an emotionally charged livestream, Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson responded to escalating accusations of academic misconduct and broader claims that the project is a scam. The 36-minute stream, directly countered critics while providing a detailed defense of Cardano’s scientific foundation, its progress over the last decade, and his personal contributions to the blockchain industry.
The controversy started around Hoskinson’s co-authorship of a recent interdisciplinary academic paper involving a sea salvage expedition off Papua New Guinea. Critics have accused Hoskinson of improperly buying authorship on the paper—allegations he described as “unhinged” and rooted in personal vendettas rather than fact.
“I was involved in a sea salvage operation and contributed as much as I could. I’m not an expert in geology, especially astrogeology, nor ever professed to be one. But I did have a lot of fun reviewing the manuscript, had a lot of fun contributing to the actual salvage side,” Hoskinson said. “I’ll remind people, if we weren’t able to salvage, there would be nothing to analyze—which is why this is an interdisciplinary paper.”
Hoskinson emphasized that his role in the project was primarily logistical and technical on the salvage side, including funding the expedition, helping design recovery sleds, and participating in sample processing aboard the research vessel.
The paper, he clarified, does not present groundbreaking scientific conclusions but rather establishes a foundation for further research. “It was more of a sea salvage expedition than true deep hardcore science,” Hoskinson noted, stating the major academic contributions came from the Harvard-affiliated scientists leading the analysis.
A Decade Of Cardano Development Defended
Pivoting to Cardano, Hoskinson delivered one of his most direct defenses of the project’s legitimacy, progress, and technological achievements to date. He dismissed persistent online narratives branding Cardano a scam, pointing to a track record few blockchain projects can match.
“Cardano was started in Japan in 2015 off of about $70 million in funding. Cardano in 2025 is a $26 billion ecosystem,” Hoskinson stated. “It has delivered 240 papers to market, millions of lines of code to market, [and] massive protocol innovations.”
He cited milestones including the first provably secure proof-of-stake protocol, the extended UTXO model, the Plutus smart contract language, and upcoming advancements like Midnight, a privacy-focused partner chain.
Cardano, Hoskinson claimed, remains one of the most secure and reliable blockchains in the industry: “Cardano’s been running for almost eight years now—seven years, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Cardano has never had a major hack. Cardano’s never gone down. Cardano runs, and it’s decentralized as measured by the EDI.”
In contrast, Hoskinson referenced industry collapses such as Celsius, Luna, FTX, and BitConnect, asking rhetorically why Cardano is often labeled a scam despite its longevity and absence of catastrophic failures.
Where is the scam? That entire arc of time I just gave you […] thousands of failed projects […] We’re still in the top 10. We’re still here. We’re still pushing forward. I don’t understand your grievance. I really don’t.”
Hoskinson warned of what he called “Charles Derangement Syndrome” (CDS), describing a growing online culture that seeks to destroy reputations with misinformation and personal attacks. He claimed that critics have formed dedicated Discord servers, parody accounts, and entire content channels devoted to discrediting him and Cardano.
“Now we have a permanent CDS marketplace within the Cardano ecosystem, and people will make money, they’ll enjoy their time with it, and they’ll invent all these narratives […] until they become so ingrained they just automatically believe they’re true.”
He compared the phenomenon to politically charged derangement syndromes surrounding figures like Elon Musk and Donald Trump, arguing that the crypto industry now faces similar polarization.
Hoskinson also raised concerns about persistent misinformation sticking to Cardano’s reputation, such as the long-debunked claim that the project only processes one transaction per block: “The lie gets sticky […] You see the problem? There becomes this cognitive cost to undo it and unwind it. And when you create these cargo cults of misinformation, they become cancerous and they grow and they distort and eventually, they derange people to a point where they create parallel realities.”
A Call To The Cardano Community
In closing, Hoskinson urged the Cardano community to consider the consequences of empowering individuals or entities driven by hate rather than constructive goals as the ecosystem moves into Voltaire, its on-chain governance era.
“We all drink the same water. And if you’re pouring lead in that water, you’re drinking just as much as I am. And understand there are consequences for that,” he warned, pointing to upcoming budget decisions and delegate representative (DRep) elections within Cardano’s governance system.
Despite the attacks, Hoskinson reaffirmed his commitment to the ecosystem and its roadmap:“Cardano is the most decentralized cryptocurrency on the planet. We have the best on-chain governance system. Leios is going to make us one of the fastest. Bitcoin DeFi is going to open up a $2 trillion opportunity. Midnight is going to add the next generation to the cryptocurrency space. We’re not out. We’re fighting. We’re still in the conversation. We’re in the reserve. We’re still doing groundbreaking research. I’m proud of that.”
At press time, ADA traded at $0.7171.
