Cardano Founder Slams Crypto Media for Misleading ‘Charles’ Memecoin Report

Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson bashes crypto media for reliance on artificial intelligence, low-quality content, and lack of fact-checking.

The Cardano community is no stranger to memecoins, especially those inspired by the network’s founder Charles Hoskinson. However, a recent memecoin has sparked confusion that has further been complicated by erroneous reporting.

A Tale of Two Charles’

Hoskinson expressed these concerns on Sunday, February 2, citing a report likely to deepen confusion around a recently launched memecoin inspired by and named after the Cardano founder.

This is how bad the crypto media is: https://t.co/BpuR73EkcQ they don’t even understand there are two different tokens. Everything is AI-written, low quality, and almost no fact-checking.

We need to do better as an industry

— Charles Hoskinson (@IOHK_Charles) February 2, 2025

The report erroneously claimed that Hoskinson had promised holders of the Official Charles Memecoin (Charles) exclusive content in April 2025 as compensation for losses faced by holders.

Official Charles Memecoin (Charles) was launched by an unknown community member last week. The project tried to gain traction by sending 90% of the supply to a wallet showcased by Hoskinson on a live stream to try out new features of Lace.

Hoskinson, however, wanting no part in it, promptly permanently removed the allocated tokens, which at their peak were worth over $80 million on paper, from circulation in a separate and lighthearted livestream, where he discouraged users from sending him tokens.

While this reduced supply can often boost sentiments around an asset, this was a death blow for the memecoin, whose hype was built around Hoskinson’s holdings. As holders dumped, the asset’s diluted market value quickly fell from highs of over $70 million to just below $300,000 at the time of writing.

Despite this outcome and as opposed to the report slammed by Hoskinson, the Cardano founder has no longer had any interaction with the asset or the community around it.

In reality, the X post from Hoskinson promising exclusive content in April, referenced by the erroneous report, was geared toward holders of The CHARLES Media Token (CHARLES).

For charles c8c711a3df70956c397cb92e1705b675b18652723cfb7f72ccd59f2d434841524c4553

The first drop of exclusive content will be in April. I’m going somewhere special and will take a film crew with me. If I survive, charles Holders get to see the director’s cut

— Charles Hoskinson (@IOHK_Charles) January 31, 2025

Unlike the memecoin, CHARLES is a fungible media token created by the Cardano founder and Book.io, with each token representing a 90-minute interview with the developer on the blockchain.

The news outlet in question, however, appears to have failed to confirm the contract address shared by Hoskinson.

The resulting gaff highlights the need for a greater focus on fact-checking in the crypto media space while exposing the issues that come with the pressure on journalists to break news quickly.

Source