Cardano Founder Slams Toxic Governance, Warns Of Burnout

In a livestream on Monday, Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson delivered a candid and impassioned critique of what he described as “constant unrelenting naked criticism” and “destructive” tactics within the project’s governance discussions. His remarks were prompted by a tweet from a longtime community member, known as ADA North Pool, who announced his intention to leave the Cardano ecosystem after two years of dedicated work on governance initiatives.

Cardano Governance Issues

Hoskinson opened his video by reading verbatim a tweet from ADA North Pool, who wrote, in part: “Thinking about leaving the Cardano community for good. So. Tired. I worked my ass off for 2 years and sacrificed a lot. I have been writing rationales for ICC in the hospital with my son. What I see on twitter is that the constitution is crap and CF lawyers could have done it better.”

Hoskinson stressed that this departure represents a distressing signal about the state of discourse surrounding Cardano’s governance. The founder described the community member as a “good friend” and emphasized that “it is not healthy for an ecosystem to take people who have been working in it since 2018 and criticize that person’s work again and again and again to a point where they just don’t see any value in staying.”

Throughout the livestream, Hoskinson repeatedly drew a distinction between legitimate critique—backed by alternative proposals—and mere negativity. He warned that: “If you’re going to criticize, you have an obligation to present an alternative and argue why that alternative is superior. Otherwise we won’t get anywhere.”

He also underscored the substantial time and expense invested in the Cardano constitution and governance framework, pointing out that “people who wrote constitutions for nation states were involved,” and that more than “1,800 people from 50 different countries” contributed to the drafting process. While Hoskinson acknowledged that the resulting document “is not a perfect document,” he argued that the blueprint intentionally leaves “room for interpretation” and was produced through extensive, painstaking negotiations.

One of Hoskinson’s central themes was the risk of alienating core contributors if the Cardano community allows destructive debates to overshadow constructive collaboration. He underscored the need for the ecosystem to welcome discussion of roadmaps, budgets, and future development in a way that does not devolve into personal attacks or total rejection of others’ work.

“When do you get the benefit of the doubt? If you put in 10 years of your life and you put in all of this effort and you’ve tried your best every day to do right by everybody […] at what point do you throw in the towel and just say f*** them all and walk off?”

Hoskinson lamented that if the community continues with a “toxic” approach, “you’ll lose all your good people and you’re not going to have anything of value left behind.” Looking ahead, Hoskinson outlined plans to focus on Cardano’s project roadmap this month and delve into the budget next month. He underlined that a robust discussion—rather than a barrage of leaks or sensational accusations—is essential to securing the long-term prosperity of the ecosystem.

He admonished those who have circulated “leaked budgets” and concluded that turning complex planning documents into sources of “salacious scandals” only serves to derail governance efforts: “Leaking intermediate forms is shameful. It achieves nothing, and it harms the ecosystem. It invites criticism for the sake of criticism, and it’s a destructive process.”

At the same time, Hoskinson reiterated that everyone in the ecosystem—specifically newly elected Delegated Representatives (DReps)—must decide whether they want to be “constructive or destructive” and how they intend to foster a culture that nurtures collaboration over cynicism.

Hoskinson’s livestream combined both a plea and a warning. He implored the Cardano community to reflect on their roles in cultivating a healthy governance environment, making clear that: “A social system requires an acknowledgment that some people are not bad actors and they’re trying their best to do good things. If your standard is that every single person is the enemy, you’re just going to burn your ecosystem to the ground.”

Despite the frustrations aired, Hoskinson expressed optimism that Cardano can still set itself apart from other blockchain projects by confronting governance issues head-on, rather than ignoring them. He affirmed he will continue to “push this along and do everything in my power” to ensure the ecosystem converges on a productive outcome.”

He added, “I believe our best days are ahead of us. We can earn the right to be better than where the world is currently at by how we work together. Let’s focus on being productive, constructive, and working in the right direction.”

At press time, ADA traded at $0.7949.

Featured image created with DALL.E, chart from TradingView.com