Few understand how close Ethereum was to total annihilation in 2014 at the hands of Vitalik Buterin, Charles Hoskinson, and Gavin Wood.
Not only was one of its first major applications a few cycles away from being hacked in what is now known as the DAO attack. But, in addition, Ethereum’s team of founders hated each other’s guts.
Like Voltron, they united under a common goal: A confluence of admiration for Buterin’s Ethereum white paper and vehement disdain for how limited Bitcoin was… “Bitcoin f*cking sucks for developing a financial system on top of, it’s really terrible,” said Mathias Grønnebæk, an early Ethereum developer.
Here’s a quick story how the original Ethereum Super Friends fell out.
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Charles Hoskinson… ‘Someone Not to Trust With Your Girlfriend’
All of the co-founders — except Vitalik — were under hot water for one reason or another. However, none were as problematic as Charles Hoskinson.
In the book Out of the Ether, his co-founders didn’t hold back, calling him a sociopath, a manipulator, and someone best kept away from your girlfriend. Joe Lubin of Consensys claims Charles tried to pass himself off as Satoshi. Others remember wild stories that Hoskinson would tell of government black ops, war zone heroics, and DARPA connections that were never proven.
The greatest evidence of bots yet on Twitter. Vitalik following me? Never going to happen pic.twitter.com/BsXemB2GPm
— Charles Hoskinson (@IOHK_Charles) September 14, 2022
His falling-out with Vitalik Buterin came down to vision. “Vitalik’s kind of a Communist,” Charles said. “He’s not a capitalist.”
The Night That Changed Everything For Charles Hoskinson
Interestingly, the first Ethereum transaction on the blockchain was between Gavin Wood and Charles Hoskinson. The pair later founded successful blockchains Polkadot and Cardano, respectively.
To add to the Shakesperean irony, Gavin Wood gave Vitalik an ultimatum: it’s either Charles or me. On May 28, in a mansion in Zug, Switzerland — also known as “Crypto Valley” — Vitalik made his decision with all of the ETH founders present.
“I made this speech that consisted of half a minute of filler,” Vitalik said, “followed by the real decision, which was that Charles and Amir (another co-founder) would be fired. They were disappointed but not absolutely surprised.”
It would turn out this was not a good decision, and Buterin has even admitted it
Recording of Vitalik Buterin talking with Steven Nerayoff about the mistakes of letting Charles Hoskinson leave Ethereum.
This is just a short clip from an almost 3-hour-long conversation. In this clip, they are realizing Charles is the solution to resurrect ETH. pic.twitter.com/X8yMaRnAta
— Eilert (@Eilert) March 14, 2024
Whatever you can make of Charles, he has strong business sense, modeling himself after Steve Jobs.
Ethereum has had a marketing problem in recent years and a strong business character like Hoskinson would have helped. After all, Hoskinson’s memetic appeal, not limited to falconry, dancing, and weekly Q&As, are a major part of the reason Cardano has grown to be a top 10 cryptocurrency.
Charles later commented on his departure, “It became a Lord of the Flies — style situation, where power camps were formed and whoever was most persuasive to Vitalik was the one who won. That’s why there’s some bad blood; that’s why I wasn’t the nicest guy on the exit.”
So Who is Charles Really?
Today, Charles is one of the most idiosyncratic personalities in the cryptocurrency space. He’s active on social media, hosts weekly interactive live streams, and beams with elation and happiness.
However, stories like this are no doubt important for the future of Cardano.
But overall, he’s a much different man than he once was. After all, he helped create Ethereum in his early 20s.
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Key Takeaways
Few understand how close Ethereum was to total annihilation in 2014 at the hands of Vitalik Buterin, Charles Hoskinson and Gavin Wood.
Today Charles is one of the most idiosyncratic personalities in the cryptocurrency space.
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