In brief
- Charles Hoskinson believes Trump mishandled crypto policy by launching his own meme coin instead of focusing on policy.
- He argued that Trump’s actions turned crypto into a partisan issue and derailed bipartisan momentum in Congress.
- Hoskinson said later disputes over a proposed U.S. crypto reserve reflected the same lack of clear policy standards.
Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson says there’s a lot about President Donald Trump’s approach to cryptocurrency, including the president’s own personal ventures in the industry, that’s been “frustrating,” but others in the industry are afraid to talk about it.
“It’s the third rail. You can’t mention anything about it,” Hoskinson told Decrypt in an interview.
When President Donald Trump launched his own meme coin earlier this year, just days before his return to the White House, the move risked undermining the U.S. cryptocurrency industry, according to Hoskinson.
He told Decrypt recently that what had been a fragile but bipartisan effort to establish clear rules for digital assets in the United States quickly became a partisan liability, stalling legislation and handing industry critics an easy line of attack ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
“The minute that Trump coin got launched, it went from ‘crypto is bipartisan’ to ‘crypto equals Trump equals bad, equals corruption,’” Hoskinson told Decrypt. “It became a campaign line for 2026 in the midterm election.”
It’s something you won’t hear many other crypto founders say, and Hoskinson believes there’s a reason: “We were told, ‘Stay silent about it. Don’t say anything, because you’ll lose access. You can never meet with the president, you can’t be involved in the legislation process or any of these things,’” said the Cardano founder. “This was a common notion.”
Hoskinson said Trump’s involvement in crypto blurred the line between policy and personal interest, weakening the industry’s standing in Washington just as lawmakers were debating how to regulate digital assets.
“You just created a massive market disruption, and are probably going to get subpoenaed when the Democrats get back in power,” he said.
Even before the meme coin, while Trump was still on the campaign trail heading into the November election, the president, members of his family, and business associates launched a crypto project called World Liberty Financial. Hoskinson likewise criticized the timing of this venture.
“As a private citizen, he has every right to do these things, but he has to understand that he’s not divorced from the optics of the decisions he makes,” Hoskinson said.
“You don’t go do something, and then create a regulatory framework. You create the framework and then do that thing in honor of that framework. So I’m not saying don’t launch Trump coin or World Liberty, just launch it in the new framework.”
The Strategic Bitcoin Reserve
Since returning to office, Trump has attempted to make good on the various promises he made to crypto supporters during his reelection campaign. In March, Trump said on Truth Social that the U.S. would create a “crypto reserve” that would include Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, XRP, and Cardano. The plan followed an executive order establishing a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve capitalized with seized Bitcoin.
Hoskinson said he opposed expanding any reserve beyond Bitcoin, arguing that government involvement in selecting individual cryptocurrencies amounted to picking winners and losers in the market.
“I was very critical of the idea of the U.S. government starting a reserve in altcoin things,” he said. “If you’re going to do it, just keep the Bitcoin you’ve seized.”
Thanks to law enforcement actions since 2009, including the takedown of the Silk Road dark web marketplace and conviction of its founder, Ross Ulbricht (who Trump pardoned in January), the U.S. government holds roughly 200,000 BTC, valued at around $17.1 billion.
After publicly criticizing the plan, Hoskinson said he was disinvited from a private Mar-a-Lago dinner with Trump and other crypto executives earlier this year. He later said the inclusion of Cardano, which trades as ADA, in the proposed reserve appeared less like a policy decision and more like an attempt to smooth over tensions.
“They threw in ADA because they felt bad,” Hoskinson said.
After the announcement of the inclusion of ADA in the crypto reserve, the token’s price rose by 70%—though like most major coins, it’s fallen hard in recent months. Hoskinson said the initial spike underscored the risks of government involvement in crypto markets.
Despite the fallout, Hoskinson said he did not regret speaking out about Trump’s crypto moves, even if it meant losing access to policymakers.
“Even if I could affect policy a little bit, it’s just not worth it from an integrity viewpoint,” he said. “Just call a spade a spade.”
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