Cardano Founder Accuses Leading Publisher of Lacking Journalistic Integrity in $600M ADA Theft Allegation

• Charles Hoskinson slams Cointelegraph for refusing to retract after audit clears ADA theft claims.
  Hoskinson Urges Crypto Projects to Boycott Cointelegraph Over Reckless $600M Defamation Report.

Charles Hoskinson, the founder of Cardano, has publicly criticized crypto news outlet Cointelegraph, calling its reporting “defamation at the highest level.” The conflict stems from allegations that Input Output Global (IOG), the company behind Cardano, was involved in a $600 million ADA voucher theft.

According to CNF, the matter originated in early May when NFT artist Masato Alexander claimed that Hoskinson used his Genesis keys to change the Cardano ledger and took control of funds. Alexander called it “one of the biggest reorgs in blockchain history.”

Hoskinson strongly denied the allegation and said that almost all the vouchers from the initial coin offering were redeemed by the participants, not misappropriated. He argued the claims were baseless and damaging the project’s reputation.

A later independent forensic audit supported Hoskinson’s claim, as reported by CNF. The law firm McDermott Will & Emery and the accounting firm BDO carried out the audit. They found that 99.7% of the vouchers were redeemed correctly. The remaining unclaimed vouchers were directed to Interspect, a governance body that funds development grants.

Audit Clears Hoskinson as Dispute with Publisher Escalates

Cointelegraph initially published Alexander’s claims and Hoskinson’s denial in May. Now Hoskinson is asking for accountability.  He says the outlet has not issued a correction even though an audit cleared him. He also claims that the Editor-in-Chief, Jon Rice, has resisted retracting the article.

Hoskinson wrote on X that Cointelegraph was preparing a new story to say IOG pressured them, but he countered by stating, 

The Cardano founder urged other crypto projects to cut ties with the outlet. He said,

ADA Price Outlook

Currently, ADA is trading at $0.79, representing a 3.03% increase over the last 24 hours. Trading volume rose 49.12% to $847.49 million. Traders are closely watching its support levels as broader sentiment plays out.

Analyst Arman Shaban said the $0.68 to $0.78 range is very important for ADA’s next move. In his recent TradingView analysis, he explained that if this support holds, ADA could climb to $0.85, $0.95, and $1.00. He also added that if momentum gets stronger, the next possible targets in the mid-term are $1.05, $1.17, and $1.33.

Shaban warned that losing the $0.68 level would signal a breakdown and potentially open the door to lower support zones.