In his latest live broadcast titled “Cargo Cults and the Reality of Crypto,” Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson delivered a comprehensive speech on what he sees as the current state of digital goods, social behavior, and the ongoing legal battles in the industry. The conversation delved into industrial history, the fate of long-forgotten projects, and the sometimes troubling culture that can appear around certain tokens.
Cardano Founder Talks About HEX
Broadcasting from Colorado, Hoskinson began by describing his recent move back to his ranch and expressing his excitement about finishing construction. He quickly shifted focus to a broader survey of the crypto landscape, noting that tens of thousands of cryptocurrency projects exist and that new ones often appear, while old ones disappear or re-emerge.
“As many of you know, there are probably over 30,000 cryptocurrency projects floating around,” Hoskinson said. “We pay attention to about 50 to 100 at any given interesting moment in the novel.” He divided most projects into three buckets: Failed or fading projects (eg, Peercoin, NXT, Feathercoin), projects that were frauds (eg, BitConnect, Celsius, and Luna) and the third bucket, projects ” interesting,” non-traditional communities and non-traditional approaches to tokenomics, marketing, or culture.
From this framework, the founder of Cardano focused on how certain projects – what he calls the “third bucket” – tend to behave. He singled out Hex and PulseChain as examples, stressing that those communities often sought his opinion in Ask Me Anything (AMA) sessions. “Every single AMA I’ve done in the last five years or so […] there was at least one person who said, ‘What do you think of Richard Heart? What do you think about PulseChain? What do you think of Hex?’”
He said, if we talk about technology, he is not interested: “I don’t know much about it […] besides the fact that I know that Richard Hart is a proud and extravagant person who buys a lot of luxury. […] and there seems to be a popular YouTube channel.”
While not admitting guilt or innocence, Hoskinson insisted that the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has brought a personal lawsuit against Hart for alleged fraud and misappropriation of $12.1 million. He compared that situation to ongoing SEC cases against companies like Coinbase, Binance, and Kraken, which focus on whether certain assets are securities:
“Cases like the one against Richard are unique and those will continue,” he said, further noting that the SEC’s complaint includes claims of personal misconduct and misappropriation of funds, rather than just questions of token allocation.
Hoskinson also brought up the Interpol Red Notice reports for Hart’s arrest, as well as allegations related to tax evasion in Finland and an assault charge. He cited this as evidence that the situation extends beyond civil disputes and may invite coordination between the IRS and the US Department of Justice in criminal matters.
“There is an Interpol red notice […] that is something that cannot be disputed, that cannot be denied,” said the founder of Cardano, although he admits that some in these communities believe that the charges are real.
After referring to these details, Hoskinson revealed that he was bombarded with incriminating comments and tweets from some PulseChain and Hex supporters. He said their aggressive approach discourages any cooperation: “You will not gain anything by continuing to harass. […] what you have gained is any little interest I might have had in looking at your ecosystem is now gone.”
He then drew parallels with other crypto founders or people who, in his opinion, promote controversial communities—especially comparing the situation with Craig Wright and his Bitcoin SV (BSV) supporters: “This is what happened in the BSV community with Craig. We all watched it [… ] and honestly, ask yourself, how many people woke up today and said, ‘Boy, I can’t wait to build my next project on BSV’?
Hoskinson concludes with what he sees as “unsolicited advice,” urging these communities to examine what kind of ecosystems they want to be—independent of their founders—and whether the current approach will encourage cooperation or drive away potential collaborators. “If you’re truly a cryptocurrency and you’re truly empowered, you have to be self-governing and you have to be separate from your founder,” he said. “If so, you have to ask yourself again what kind of ecosystem do you want to be?”
Despite the harsh tone, Hoskinson wished the communities luck, stressing that Cardano itself intends to remain neutral and non-involved: “I have nothing against anyone in the PulseChain community, the Hex community. […] I don’t care about your ecosystem,” he said, adding that he would no longer speak on the matter.
At press time, Cardano traded at $0.95.
Featured image from YouTube, chart from TradingView.com