Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson says an audit of Input Output Global’s (IOG) ADA holdings is nearly ready for public release, with plans to livestream the full report once finalized.
In a recent post on X, Hoskinson said the report is “shaping up quickly” after he requested more context and transparency in several key sections.
“I believe we are on schedule for a mid-August release, assuming the work continues at this pace and there are no delays,” Hoskinson said Saturday.
Hoskinson Faces Scrutiny Amid $600M ADA Misappropriation Allegations
The audit follows a wave of accusations leveled earlier this year, including claims that Hoskinson misappropriated $600 million in ADA through manipulation of the Cardano ledger.
One allegation, made by NFT artist Masato Alexander, accused Hoskinson of using a “genesis key” to seize control of $619 million during Cardano’s 2021 Allegra hard fork.
Hoskinson has denied the allegations and said he was “deeply hurt” by the erosion of trust within the community.
“IOG never gave itself 350 million unclaimed ADA. This is a lie,” he wrote in May. “The vast majority was claimed, and the remaining that was forfeited after seven years of waiting was donated to Intersect.”
Hoskinson pledged to make the audit public via a dedicated website and said the livestreamed reading would provide full transparency. The site will also include “historical artifacts from the sale,” he added.
Beyond the audit, Hoskinson is considering legal options against those who made the allegations. “Meeting with the defamation law firm next week to discuss options and strategy,” he said.
At the time of writing, ADA is trading at $0.8842, up by more than 5% over the past day, according to data from CoinMarketCap.
The token is up more than 51% over the past month but still down by 73% compared to its all-time high of $3.10 registered in early 2021.
Cardano Aims for DeFi Expansion with Stablecoin Talks
Earlier this month, Hoskinson confirmed talks with Circle and Tether to bring stablecoins USDC and USDT to the Cardano network.
While the Cardano community sees this as a bullish development, Hoskinson cautioned that adding stablecoins alone won’t revolutionize the ecosystem.
Hoskinson argued that the presence of major stablecoins won’t “magically supercharge” Cardano’s DeFi space.
Instead, he emphasized the need for foundational infrastructure and user adoption to grow the ecosystem beyond hype.
Last month, Hoskinson introduced Cardinal, a new protocol designed to bring Bitcoin-native DeFi to Cardano.
The protocol allows Bitcoin holders to access Cardano’s smart contracts and low fees, while maintaining BTC’s liquidity and trustless nature.
Cardinal uses a non-custodial wrapping model built on MuSig2, HTLCs, and BitVMX to create wrapped BTC and Ordinals for lending, borrowing, and trading.
These assets are pegged 1:1, transferable, and redeemable with fraud-proof mechanisms — avoiding rehypothecation and centralized custody risks.
The protocol aims to bridge Bitcoin’s capital with Cardano’s programmability, and is compatible with other Layer 1 chains.
