Charles Hoskinson has escalated a public dispute with Iagon’s leadership, saying the Cardano project crossed what he described as personal and professional “red lines” by targeting Midnight community members and ambassadors during an ongoing funding fight.
Hoskinson Says Iagon Leadership Crossed A Line In Cardano Dispute“I have red lines. There’s not many of them, but if you cross them, I will always behave the same way,” Hoskinson said. “If you accuse me of criminal conduct, illegal activity, and you’re more than just an anonymous internet troll, you actually have a following and so forth, we of course will respond to that up to and including litigation.”
The second line, he said, involves attacks on people affiliated with projects Input Output is building or supporting. According to Hoskinson, disagreements with him or his company should not be extended to volunteers, ambassadors or community members who are participating in those projects.
“Do not attack our ambassadors. Not once, not ever. Do not bully them. Do not harass them,” he said. “Do not harass them on Twitter and bring them into the court of public opinion for a Twitter mob to tear them apart and claim that they’re bought and sold and owned by me. It’s disgusting.”
The dispute appears to center on Iagon’s opposition to Input Output-related funding proposals and its conduct around Midnight. Hoskinson said Iagon’s CEO first voted to defund Input Output and then, in his view, pressured Midnight ambassadors or sought to discourage them from participating. He also criticized Iagon’s CTO, saying the executive had supported defunding Input Output while claiming the company was “evil” because of Hoskinson.
He also suggested that Iagon’s leadership may be preparing to move away from Cardano, pointing to prior “multi-chain” messaging and the intensity of the current conflict. Hoskinson said he had no animus toward Iagon token holders, but said he had lost confidence in the project’s current leadership.
“I do not have any faith in the leadership, ethics or integrity of the Iagon principles at the moment based upon their statements and conduct,” he said. “It seems to be deeply unstable and bizarre. Thus, it doesn’t give me high confidence they’re going to be able to deliver on their mission.”
That infrastructure push comes as Cardano’s governance and funding process remains under pressure. Hoskinson said the total fiat value of the current coalition’s proposals, including Input Output and vendors working with it, is now below $50 million, compared with $97.5 million for Input Output’s proposals last year. He framed that as a major efficiency improvement, while acknowledging that lower ADA prices forced cuts and difficult decisions.
Despite the dispute, Hoskinson said he remains encouraged by Cardano’s direction, citing Bitcoin DeFi, Midnight, new venture capital involvement, dedicated marketing discussions, open-source infrastructure plans and ecosystem KPIs from the Intersect KPI committee.
He closed by saying the Iagon matter was now finished from his side. Further engagement, he said, would be met with blocks rather than debate.
At press time, ADA traded at $0.2473.
