Emily Walker
Charles Hoskinson, the creator of Cardano and CEO of Input Output (IOG), recently took the dramatic step of destroying a large quantity of a memecoin named after him, known as CHARLES. This token found its way into Hoskinson’s wallet during a live demonstration of the Lace wallet platform, where he created a new Cardano wallet, backed it up with a PGP key, and briefly revealed a paper wallet. This action was meant to illustrate Cardano’s security features rather than encourage the distribution of unwanted tokens.
Cardano’s Founder Destroys $80 Million Worth of Tokens
In a surprising video, Hoskinson conveyed his astonishment at needing to address the token situation, stating, “I never thought in my life y’all would make a video forcing me to make a video like this, but you did.” He humorously noted the risks of malicious activity but highlighted the growing concern of random token airdrops in the crypto world, particularly looking ahead to 2025.
The unexpected arrival of the CHARLES token led to significant trading interest, catching the community off guard. Hoskinson reported that in just one day, the token reached a market value of approximately $71 million with a 24-hour trading volume exceeding $5 million, triggering a speculative surge that he described as a “million percent up.”
Commenting on the frenzy surrounding the token, he remarked, “Boy did you trade it… literally in a day, a million percent up, everybody’s playing with it.” Despite having what many would view as a significant asset, worth tens of millions, Hoskinson opted not to capitalize on it. Instead, he chose to eliminate the tokens through a public burning.
He shared that he coded a quick script, which his colleague Lucas verified, to send the tokens to a non-retrievable address—essentially creating a “black hole” for the CHARLES tokens. During the demonstration, he meticulously verified the address, set the total to approximately 900 billion CHARLES tokens (90% of the total supply), and included a whimsical note saying, “thanks for all the fish” before confirming the transaction with his password.
After completing the transfer, he displayed the outgoing transaction, noting that the burning of such a substantial amount resulted in a mere fee of 1.42 ADA. He reflected on the extraordinary nature of the event, saying, “I think this is the first time in my life I’ve ever burnt $60 million, $70 million, $80 million of value.” He recognized the irony of the situation: “A lesser man would have found a way to slow drip that out, got a few million dollars here and there. I don’t do that. Homie don’t play that way.”
Throughout the session, Hoskinson also mentioned that he had run tests on the burning script with other tokens like HOSKY and AGENT SNEK prior to the final CHARLES burn. Once the transaction was confirmed on the blockchain explorer, he emphasized that there was no way to retrieve the tokens once sent to the burner address. He concluded the session by advising the community against engaging in similar antics in the future, even though he admitted the spectacle had its entertainment value.
As of the latest update, Cardano was trading at $0.95.