Cardano Founder Denies Involvement in Hinman Speech Saga

Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson has denied playing any role in the controversies surrounding William Hinman’s crypto speech.  

Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson has cleared the air stating that he was never involved in the controversies surrounding former SEC director William Hinman’s June 14, 2018, speech. 

Recall that during the infamous speech, Hinman declared Ethereum and Bitcoin as non-securities, leaving other crypto assets like XRP without regulatory clarity. 

Earlier this week, Empower Oversight released new documents highlighting how Ethereum co-founder Joseph Lubin influenced Hinman’s declaration of ETH as a non-security. 

As the crypto community continues to react to the development, an XRP enthusiast tagged Hoskinson to one of the recently-released emails sent by Hinman. In the email, Hinman told other SEC officials that ETH should not be classified as a security. 

Hoskinson Distances Himself From Hinman’s Speech Saga

However, Hoskinson was not pleased with the XRP enthusiast for tagging him. 

“Why do you guys CC on the Ethereum stuff?” he quizzed.  

Hoskinson, who co-founded Ethereum, clarified that he left the crypto project as far back as June 2014. The Cardano founder emphasized that Hinman’s emails and other relevant facts came about in 2018 and beyond, four years after he left Ethereum. 

“It was literally years after they burned me, tarred and feathered my reputation, and Cardano launched. You got beef with Uncle Joe, not Charlie,” Hoskinson added. 

Why do you guys CC on the Ethereum stuff? I left in June of 2014. All of the emails and other relevant artifacts were from 2018 and beyond. It was literally years after they burned me, tarred and feathered my reputation, and Cardano launched.

You got beef with Uncle Joe not…

— Charles Hoskinson (@IOHK_Charles) August 3, 2023

Notably, Hoskinson is distancing himself from the Hinman speech controversy, which has continued to be a major debate in the crypto community. 

Hoskinson’s Role in Ethereum 

Meanwhile, Hoskinson is one of the five founders of Ethereum. He worked with Lubin, Vitalik Buterin, Gavin Wood, and Anthony Di lorio during the early stages of the project. 

However, Hoskinson left Ethereum following a difference in vision. While Hoskinson advocated for a commercial approach for Ethereum, the other founders favored a non-profit direction for the company.