Cardano Founder Hoskinson Calls Ethereum Classic “A Dead Project”

Long-running tension between the Ethereum Classic Community and Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson appears to have gathered steam once more. Hoskinson slammed the platform in a tweet as he responded to allegations from a vocal Ethereum Classic advocate with the username “SETHMCCORMACK9.”

Hoskinson Fires Back at Accusations of Plans to “Milk ETC”

The accusatory post claimed Hoskinson was looking to take advantage of ETC by imposing a 20% miner tax. 

No drama, just saying that SHA-3 and also a treasury was rejected. Charles Hoskinson wanted to implement a 20% miner tax to milk ETC,” read the tweet. 

Hoskinson was swift to fire back a response in a tweet of his own. The Cardano creator first clarified that the alleged miner tax was in fact a sustainable development fund. The IOG founder also brought up what he described as ETC’s failure to reach its full potential. 

Indeed, Hoskinso tagged the platform as a dead project with no real goals to back its existence. 

I love how a sustainable development fund turns into a miner tax. ETC still gives me sadness for what could have been. It’s a dead project with no purpose or real compelling argument to exist outside of spite,” he said. 

Interestingly, Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin does not share the opinion that ETC is a dead project. In July this year, he described the Ethereum Classic community as very welcoming and encouraged PoW supporters to use the platform.

Potentially Smaller Mining Rewards Stir Community Unrest

The aforementioned sustainable development fund appears to be what triggered the Twitter spat.  Since the 2016 hard fork that birthed Ethereum Classic, Charles Hoskinson has been very supportive of the platform. In fact, just last year, he became a member of the Ethereum Classic Cooperative’s Board of Directors. 

Interestingly, the Cardano founder was originally part of the Ethereum core team. However, Hoskinson exited the project with the parties involved citing differing views on the right path for Ethereum. 

The IOG CEO’s contentious proposal entailed setting up a decentralized treasury protocol as well as a development fund for Ethereum classic. As part of this, Hoskinson suggested the team make adjustments to the ETC block rewards allocation on the platform. However, several community members found the idea unappealing, especially the miners as it would see their mining rewards cut down. 

A Lengthy Feud

Notably, the ETC community has been unwelcoming of Hoskinson’s involvement with the project in the past. The Cardano founder offered to help bail out the platform when it suffered a series of 51% exploits. However, very few Ethereum Classic users were open to such a move. 

Another point of contention between Hoskinson and the Ethereum Classic community is his ownership of the project’s official Twitter page. The ETC community has called for the Cardano leader to hand it over to them. However, Hoskinson does not seem inclined to do so. The Ethereum co-founder insists his initial efforts in ETC’s foundation are enough to regain control of the account.

Return? It's my account. As for return, I can't get back the millions of dollars of development we spent nor the years of time supporting a blockchain that didn't seem to want to do anything other than preserve a status quo. We'll call it even

— Charles Hoskinson (@IOHK_Charles) September 5, 2022