In a livestream on February 4, 2025, Charles Hoskinson, founding father of Cardano and CEO of Enter Output International (IOG), delivered a stark rebuke of Wyoming’s plan to develop a state-backed stablecoin. Hoskinson alleges that “freeze and seize” necessities—enabled by cryptographic instruments to forestall or reverse transactions—had been by no means brazenly disclosed in a correct product necessities doc (PRD), successfully excluding Cardano and different main blockchain platforms from rivalry.
Cardano Founder Slams Wyoming’s Stablecoin As CBDC
Hoskinson’s remarks concentrate on the absence of transparency in Wyoming’s procurement process. In line with him, the state did not publish or share an in depth PRD that outlines key must-have options, corresponding to the flexibility to freeze or seize tokens beneath sure authorized or regulatory circumstances. He says that this omission not solely prevents truthful competitors but additionally poses dangers to consumer privateness and broader blockchain adoption.
“We had been instructed it will be an open course of and we might know forward of time what the product necessities could be,” Hoskinson says within the video. “As an alternative, they hid the PRD… and determined to qualify folks themselves.”
He contends that Wyoming’s choice standards had been solely disclosed after the actual fact, at which level the state allegedly gave lower than 5 days for firms to show they may meet the freeze-and-seize requirement. The Cardano ecosystem, he argues, may have carried out such a characteristic in roughly two weeks if it had been explicitly included within the PRD from the outset.
To spotlight Cardano’s capabilities, Hoskinson contrasts absolutely programmable blockchains like Cardano and Ethereum with so-called “fixed-function” ledgers, including XRP. Programmable chains permit builders to construct new options straight into good contracts, which means a freeze-and-seize functionality will be added if required.
“On Cardano or Ethereum, if there’s one thing the protocol doesn’t assist natively, you write a sensible contract,” he explains. “So, if we had recognized freeze-and-seize was a Hardline product requirement, we may have merely written a contract to fulfill it.”
Hoskinson factors to what he calls a mischaracterization by officers overseeing Wyoming’s stablecoin undertaking, who had acknowledged that Cardano didn’t meet this criterion with out clarifying the brief timeline or undisclosed necessities.
All through the video, Hoskinson implies that the method might have been orchestrated to favor a selected blockchain answer, suggesting that one of many decision-makers beforehand labored with the platform being singled out for the undertaking. He underscores that no open bidding or public dialogue passed off on the essential options of the stablecoin.
Hoskinson additionally critiques the concept that Wyoming’s stablecoin could be functionally much like a central bank digital currency (CBDC) due to its freeze-and-seize characteristic and clear ledger, warning that this undermines monetary privateness. In his view, this structure offers authorities—and even third events—the ability to watch all transactions and freeze funds at will.
“In the event you maintain Wyoming stablecoin, know that all the pieces you purchase is monitored and tracked,” Hoskinson says. “At any given time, civil asset forfeiture… they will simply seize it.” He questions the logic of investing state sources to construct a product that, in his estimation, competes head-on with extra established gamers—corresponding to Tether or Circle—which have far bigger budgets and market share.
In his remarks, Hoskinson underscores the financial challenges Wyoming’s stablecoin may face, citing a modest $5.8 million finances and a quickly shifting regulatory setting. He argues that established stablecoin issuers generate billions in income and may pivot rapidly to accumulate or adapt to new rules, leaving little room for a nascent state-backed undertaking to realize market traction.
“Tether made $13 billion final 12 months. Circle made principally the identical,” he notes, stating the extreme competitors. “You will have a $5.8 million finances… and on the finish of the day, you’re sitting on a CBDC in Wyoming.”
He additional questions why the state wouldn’t merely “white label” an present stablecoin infrastructure somewhat than construct from scratch, noting that negotiating a share of Treasury invoice income or curiosity funds may theoretically profit Wyoming with out incurring giant growth prices.
Hoskinson, who lives in Wheatland, Wyoming, frames his criticism as a protection of native residents. He argues that public funds are being jeopardized in a enterprise which will fail to ship a significant profit to the state’s taxpayers. In his view, had the PRD been brazenly accessible—significantly the freeze-and-seize requirement—Cardano, amongst different platforms, would have submitted a bid extra aligned with the state’s purported targets.
“They don’t deserve that,” he says of Wyoming’s workforce. “This isn’t how procurement works… not how anyone ought to function.” He calls on officers, together with state legislators, to scrutinize the undertaking extra rigorously, emphasizing the necessity for strong debate about whether or not the stablecoin, as presently structured, aligns with Wyoming’s pro-innovation picture or inadvertently creates a centralized digital foreign money beneath federal oversight.
At press time, Cardano traded at $0.75.
Featured picture from YouTube, chart from TradingView.com
