On-Chain Tracking Revives Allegations That Hoskinson Sold 1.5B ADA in the 2021 Rally

On-chain analysis is prompting speculation that Cardano co-founder Charles Hoskinson sold approximately 1.5 billion ADA in 2021, while publicly advocating for the token.

NFT creator Masato Alexander published new on-chain tracing work this week claiming that large ADA transactions during the 2021 market rally can be traced through a shorter chain of hops than previously established, reviving allegations that Hoskinson sold approximately 1.5 billion ADA during the period when the token hit its all-time high.

Hoskinson has made no public statement in response to the new analysis, and did not respond to a request for comment from The Defiant.

The Cardano Foundation said in an emailed response, "Cardano has three distinct founding entities. IOG, Emurgo and the Cardano Foundation. Our role at the Foundation is to advance the Cardano blockchain.

While we have no insights into the reported transactions by IOG referenced in this X thread, we have no reason to assume anything other than professional conduct and best intentions from the other founding entities, including Charles himself. We are fully committed to the long-term success of the Cardano blockchain."

Alexander published the thread Monday on X framing the work as an independent attempt to verify an earlier on-chain claim.

"A May '25 tweet claims @IOHK_Charles sold ~1.5B ADA in the '21 hype cycle, plus 10x 20M payments to @gavofyork," he wrote, referring to Ethereum and Polkadot co-founder Gavin Wood. "Rather than take its word, i wanted to check the chain."

ADA was trading at $0.1623 on Wednesday, down 22% over seven days and 42% over the past month, per CoinGecko, and has fallen 94.74% from its September 2021 all-time high of $3.09.

The allegations arrive during a governance crisis that has rattled the Cardano ecosystem since early June, following a string of ecosystem shutdowns and a series of public statements from Hoskinson that he has partially walked back.

On-chain Tracing

Alexander's tracing argument centers on stake pool pledge flows. He said the on-chain presence of Input Output Global (IOG) extended beyond its original Genesis UTxO. Hoskinson is the founder and CEO of IOG, the engineering firm behind the Cardano blockchain.

"IOG had a larger onchain footprint than just their Genesis UTxO," he wrote. "Each pool requires an owner and pledge ADA to be put up."

His updated analysis focuses on two sets of transactions: a single 925 million ADA movement and nine separate 20 million ADA payments. Alexander said both sets have "a closer common ancestor than IOG's genesis ADA," reducing the number of intermediate hops between IOG and those transactions from roughly 40 to between one and seven. "They gather up ~21 of the 64m ADA pledge's from IOG's private pools," he wrote.

Alexander published an accompanying transaction graph, a flow visualization, and raw identifiers he linked to Cardanoscan records. He was explicit that the work does not settle the question.

"This is best effort attempt at looking into what transpired on chain, draw your own conclusions," he wrote. "If you find any errors in the data or methodology, please feel free to reach out and i'll update it."

The on-chain tracing, standing alone, does not establish who controlled every wallet involved, whether funds moved to exchanges, or what contractual restrictions may have applied to early ADA allocations. UTxO ancestry analysis can narrow the question of common funding sources; it cannot, without off-chain corroboration, establish who controlled those UTxOs or whether transfers constituted sales.

Prior Claims and Hoskinson's Earlier Position

Alexander previously raised related allegations. An earlier thread alleged Hoskinson used Cardano "genesis keys" during the 2021 Allegra hard fork to move ICO and voucher-related UTxOs, redirecting roughly 318 million ADA into Cardano's reserves. Hoskinson denied that allegation, saying IOG had not appropriated hundreds of millions in unclaimed ADA.

A Cardano redemption transparency report stated that 99.2% of vouchers, representing 99.7% of ADA sold through the voucher program, had been redeemed. The report acknowledged that 390 unredeemed vouchers representing 318 million ADA were swept to the reserve at the close of Byron-era redemption, with a post-sweep path retained for remaining holders.

Alexander's new thread does not revisit the genesis key allegation directly. It focuses on tracing common funding ancestors for the 925 million ADA and the 20 million ADA payments, treating that question as distinct from the voucher redemption history.

Governance Backdrop

The allegations land during a months-long governance crisis. Hoskinson warned in early June of a "wave of failures" across the Cardano ecosystem following the shutdown of TapTools, the network's most-used analytics platform. The Cardano Foundation had already cancelled the Cardano Summit 2026 after a 7.8 million ADA treasury proposal fell short of the two-thirds supermajority required under the Voltaire governance framework. A 32.9 million ADA IOG research budget proposal drew approximately 87% DRep opposition.

Hoskinson posted "I'm taking a break. TTYL." on June 3, then walked the statement back roughly 21 hours later with "No I'm not leaving." He subsequently raised the possibility of splitting the Cardano blockchain and launching a proof-of-burn successor chain as a "nuclear option" if the governance impasse persisted.

Cardano's total value locked stands at approximately $93 million, per DefiLlama, placing it outside the top 25 chains. The network peaked in 2021 when ADA reached $3.09, the same period Alexander's tracing work targets.