Cardano community defends Charles Hoskinson amid online criticism

The Cardano (ADA) community rallied to support Charles Hoskinson, the blockchain’s founder, following sharp criticisms on X (formerly Twitter). The debate began on Saturday when a user by the handle “Dclay” posted asking for Hoskinson’s involvement in the project.

The post asked if Hoskinson was slowing down Cardano in some way, suggesting his personality and emotions were an issue for the blockchain.

Sorry if this triggers any of y’all, tbh it had to be asked. Homie is an emotional wreck.

— Dclay 🪙 (@DclayTlks) November 3, 2024

Another user echoed these views, calling Hoskinson the “biggest enemy” of Cardano and asserting that he had “done more harm than good.” The statements attracted the attention of the Cardano community, and many people came to support Hoskinson.

ADA community defends Hoskinson’s contributions

Some users defended Hoskinson, praised his efforts, and mentioned that he is a great leader with a good vision for the project. One community member commented, “Cancer would imply negative growth. You just keep being you, Uncle Charlie. Done more for crypto than Satoshi at this point.”  This sentiment was echoed by many, showing that Hoskinson is held in high regard by the Cardano community.

In response to the uproar, Hoskinson addressed the community on Sunday and asked a direct question: “Is Charles Hoskinson a cancer for Cardano?” At the time of this writing, results show that 51.6% of participants disagreed with the negative statement, and 48.4% agreed with it. 

Hoskinson also expressed frustration about the tone in the community, saying that many forums like X often turn into places where people insult one another. He lamented the prevalence of labels like “cancer” and “evil”. He declared that he would be cutting down his activity on X to focus on the “more productive and curated” platforms for interacting with the Cardano community.

Cardano’s push for decentralized governance

The debate highlights a continuing split within Cardano’s community. Some critics have complained that Hoskinson still wields too much control, a problem that has not been completely alleviated even as Cardano has shifted toward a more decentralized model. Its current emphasis on the Voltaire era is in line with the network’s vision of decentralization, which is planning on transferring the control of the network to the community.

Key developments include the launch of Node 10.11 on the Cardano mainnet as announced by Intersect MBO, a Cardano-led member organization. With Node 10.11 being the first mainnet release to support the Chang #2 inter-era hard fork, Cardano moves from the bootstrapping phase of governance to a fully integrated model on the blockchain.

Node 10.11 contains features that seek to enhance governance within the Cardano community. Stake Pool Operators (SPOs) can now delegate their votes to a list of options, while Delegated Representatives (DReps) now have an auto-abstain option, which enables them to decline to vote on certain decisions. 

In addition to the governance tools, the upgrade also improves Cardano’s ledger, command-line interface (CLI), API, and networking code to create a strong platform for interaction and decentralized voting.