Charles Hoskinson Disagrees with Vitalik Buterin on Pro-Crypto Stance

Charles Hoskinson Disagrees with Vitalik Buterin on Pro-Crypto Stance

By Rebecca Campbell - min read
  • Charles Hoskinson believes a win for Joe Biden would be the “death of the American crypto industry”
  • Hoskinson thinks politicians will stop “bullying and harassing” the crypto industry when they realise it will lead to lost votes
  • Earlier this week, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin asked the crypto community not to choose a political candidate based on whether they were “pro-crypto”

Charles Hoskinson, co-founder of Input Output Global and the Cardano blockchain, disagrees with Vitalik Buterin’s statement that voters should be against choosing a candidate based on who’s “pro-crypto.”

In a post on X, Hoskinson argues against what the Ethereum co-founder wrote, stating that a vote for current US President Joe Biden would be the “death of the American crypto industry,” and that the crypto community should “vote for pro-crypto candidates.”

In his opinion, candidates will stop “bullying and harassing” the crypto industry when they realise it only leads to lost votes. “Politics is a game of cause and effect,” he wrote.

Cautious Stance

Earlier this week, Buterin expressed concern about voters backing candidates who support cryptocurrencies without fully understanding their objectives.

In a post titled “Against choosing your political allegiances based on who is ‘pro-crypto,” Buterin urged people to look at a politician’s views on crypto from five years ago as this could be a good indication of where their views might be in the future.

“If you see a politician being crypto-friendly, one thing you can do is look up their views on crypto itself five years ago,” he wrote. “Similarly, look up their views on related topics such as encrypted messaging five years ago.”

Referencing the Stand With Crypto political initiative, which launched in May, Buterin states that the key bills listed, which the group uses, made “no attempt…to judge politicians on freedoms related to cryptography and technology that go beyond cryptocurrency.”

“If a politician is in favour of your freedom to trade coins, but they have said nothing about the topics above, then the underlying thought process that causes them to support the freedom to trade coins is very different from mine (and possibly yours),” Buterin argued.

“This in turn implies a high risk that they will likely have different conclusions from you on issues that you will care about in the future.”