Cardano’s Charles Hoskinson Faces Accusations of Seizing $619M in ADA Tokens

Onchain investigator @masatoalexander has accused Charles Hoskinson, the founder of Cardano, of misusing the blockchain’s genesis keys in 2021 to unilaterally rewrite its ledger and seize control of ₳318 million ADA tokens worth about $619 million.

In 2021, Charles Hoskinson unilaterally used his genesis keys to REWRITE the Cardano ledger and take control of ₳318m ($619m)

By comparison, when the DAO hack happened in 2016, the Ethereum community forked over $60m.

One of the largest ledger reorgs in blockchain history: 🧵

— masato_alexander (@masatoalexander) May 7, 2025

According to @masatoalexander, the disputed funds were ADA tokens originally sold to elderly Japanese investors through Attain Corp, a company tied to Cardano’s early token distribution prior to the formation of Emurgo.

The influencer alleges that Hoskinson leveraged his authority during the Allegra hard fork in 2021 to implement a protocol update, redirecting unclaimed tokens to Cardano’s treasury without the community’s approval.

“Charles had no mandate to decide what to do with the funds and violated the most basic tenets of crypto,” @masatoalexander wrote, claiming to cite a hard fork transaction and code commit as evidence of the alleged action.

The investigator argued that the move contradicted Cardano’s principles of decentralization, especially in light of Hoskinson’s public focus on community governance.

Hoskinson Denies Allegations, Threatens Legal Action

Hoskinson responded swiftly on X, rejecting the allegations as “slander and libel.”

He clarified that the ADA vouchers in question became unspendable after the hard fork and were transferred to a custodial account managed by the Token Generation Event (TGE).

You keep lying to people. The Ada vouchers became unspendable after the hard fork. They were rolled into a custodial account controlled by the TGE that then continued redemption for 3 more years to distribute the genesis funds to the original buyers.

If you continue to imply…

— Charles Hoskinson (@IOHK_Charles) May 7, 2025

This account, he explained, continued distributing tokens to original purchasers for three years following the event.

“These funds were not stolen,” Hoskinson stated, adding that buyers had redeemed 99.8% of vouchers. He also said that unclaimed tokens were used to support Intersect, a governance entity within the Cardano ecosystem.

Hoskinson threatened a cease-and-desist notice to @masatoalexander, warning of legal action if the influencer continued to allege theft. He pledged to release an audited report to provide transparency around the token distribution.

Community Divided as Market Holds Steady

The accusations have divided the Cardano community.

Analysts like Jonathan Morgan defended Hoskinson, arguing that no unauthorized ledger rewrite occurred and that the token transfer was the result of a consensus-approved protocol update.

Claim: Charles Hoskinson unilaterally “rewrote” Cardano’s ledger.

False

No ledger rewrite or reorganization occurred.

The transaction was an authorized, consensus-driven event through protocol upgrades, not a rewrite of transaction history.

— Jonathan Morgan (@jonmorgan_HODL) May 7, 2025

Others expressed support for @masatoalexander’s calls for transparency, emphasizing the importance of accountability in decentralized systems.

Despite the controversy, ADA’s price rallied by nearly 10% on May 9 to reach $0.74, led by Donald Trump’s tariff deal with the UK.