New on-chain analysis by NFT creator Masato Alexander alleges that Charles Hoskinson, the co-founder of Cardano, sold roughly 1.5 billion ADA tokens during the cryptocurrency's 2021 price rally — all while publicly urging others to hold and back the network. The claim, shared this week, has reignited debate about insider moves during crypto's last major bull cycle.
What the data shows
Alexander, a pseudonymous builder in the NFT space, published wallet-level findings that he says trace the sales back to addresses linked to Hoskinson. According to the analysis, the transactions occurred between early 2021 and late that year, a period when ADA surged from under $0.20 to over $3.00. The 1.5 billion figure represents a huge portion of the tokens Hoskinson was publicly known to hold or control.
The public pitch
Throughout that same stretch, Hoskinson appeared regularly on podcasts and at conferences, telling audiences that ADA was undervalued and that the ecosystem was building for the long haul. He often framed short-term profit-taking as counterproductive to Cardano's mission. The on-chain data paints a different picture — one where the co-founder allegedly cashed out at peak hype while retail buyers piled in.
No direct response yet
Neither Hoskinson nor the Cardano Foundation has publicly addressed Alexander's analysis as of Wednesday. The timing isn't great for the project: ADA's price has struggled to regain its 2021 highs, and the broader market remains jittery after a string of regulatory actions this spring. If the analysis holds up, it could cut deeper into the trust that Hoskinson's most loyal followers still place in his public statements.
Alexander has said he will release the full dataset and methodology in the coming days, inviting independent verification. That should settle whether the claims are rock-solid or just circumstantial — but for now, the question hangs over Cardano's story.
