Did Cardano Founder Steal $619 Million? Hopkinson Makes Shocking Revelation

Cardano, and specifically its founder Charles Hoskinson, has come under fire recently after allegations of fraud surfaced online. The rumors quickly spread as the integrity of the blockchain and its founder were called into question. As a result, Hopkinson has delivered a response, with a shocking revelation on how he plans to interact with the public and the community going forward.

On May 7, 2025, an X user who goes by the name Masato Alexander made a shocking claim: 318 million ADA worth $619 million had been illegally moved and the finger was being pointed at Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson. Apparently, this had happened with the Allegra Hard Fork which took place back in 2021 as core functions of the blockchain were changed.

Alexander claimed that Hoskinson had deployed code during what was thought to be routine upgrade with an extra payload. Allegedly, this allowed Hoskinson to erase the original ICO UTxOs which held a total of 318 million ADA and moved the funds to Cardano reserves that were controlled by private keys tied to Hoskinson.

The transaction was done through an MIR transaction, which stands for Move Instantaneous Reward transactions. Essentially, Alexander claims that this allowed funds to be moved from reserves and then used for treasury and staking rewards purposes.

These claims quickly drew the attention of the Cardano community, with Hoskinson himself responding under the post to denounce the rumors. He initially explained that the ADA vouchers of the users whose ADA were allegedly moved had become unspendable after the hard fork. Thus, they had been moved 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.” Furthermore, Hoskinson threatened legal action if Alexander did not stop making these claims.

After the initial interaction, Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson has once again come out to address the rumors of the missing $619 million. He first addressed the fact that people were quick to condemn him after the rumors surfaced without giving him the benefit of the doubt. This extended to friends who he says did not show up for him during this time.

As for the rumors themselves, the founder explained that there will be a full audit and a report which will be published for the public to see. He further went on to reveal that the events of the past few weeks will change how he engages with the community from now.

While Hoskinson does plan to continue to attend events and take pictures with people, he plans to hand over his X account to a media company. Additionally, he plans to change the format of how he holds his X Spaces and Ask Me Anything (AMAs). “Infinite accessibility just enables it to happen again and again,” the founder explained.