Cardano founder quashes rumors, denies collaborating with Ripple

Charles Hoskinson, the founder of Cardano, has clarified misconceptions and denied claims of collaboration with Ripple. He emphasized that he is frequently mistaken for Vitalik Buterin, the co-founder of Ethereum. Hoskinson utilized Twitter to address and rectify the ongoing misunderstandings within the cryptocurrency industry.

Why do I keep seeing people claim I worked at Ripple as an intern? I never worked for them in any capacity. You're confusing me for Vitalik who I believe was an intern

— Charles Hoskinson (@IOHK_Charles) June 23, 2023

The Rumor

There has been a persistent rumor among crypto enthusiasts that Hoskinson was once an intern for Ripple. However, Hoskinson himself has denied this claim in a recent tweet. He expressed confusion about why such rumors persist and firmly stated that he has never worked for Ripple in any capacity.

Instead, he clarified that people might confuse him with Vitalik Buterin, who interned at a California-based technology startup. Hoskinson emphasized that he has no connection with Ripple, while Buterin pursued an internship opportunity there.

Vitalik had instead applied for a position at Ripple

Interestingly, in 2019, Buterin revealed that he had applied for an internship position at Ripple in mid-2013. At that time, Buterin saw Ripple as an opportunity to gain expertise in the cryptocurrency field. However, he could not participate in the internship program due to visa complications. Buterin then collaborated with other enthusiasts, eventually co-founding Ethereum, which has now become the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization.

During a discussion about the first blockchain to allow tokenized assets, decentralized exchanges, smart contracts, and stablecoins, it was revealed by former Ripple executive Matt Hamilton that Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin had applied for an internship at Ripple.

Hamilton shared this information to counter claims that Ripple was the pioneer in providing these functionalities. However, cryptocurrency analytics company Token Paddock refuted this claim and asserted that Ethereum was the first blockchain to offer decentralized functionalities.

This disagreement led Hamilton to defend Ripple further, mentioning that the XRP Ledger (XRPL) was established years before Ethereum. He even shared an anecdote about Buterin sleeping on the sofa of Ripple CTO David Schwartz during his internship application period.