Cardano Founder Comes Under Fire Over Plan to Swap ADA for Bitcoin

Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson has come under heavy criticism following his recent strategy of converting a portion of the ADA treasury into Bitcoin.

Initially, Hoskinson proposed a strategy to convert $100 million worth of ADA in treasury into USDM stablecoin and Bitcoin. At the time, he suggested that the fund could generate an annual return of 5-10% and boost Cardano’s DeFi and stablecoin ecosystems.

According to Hoskinson, the annual yield could be used to repurchase ADA and replenish the treasury, which currently holds roughly 1.7 billion ADA.

He suggested that if the initiative proves successful, the ecosystem team could implement the strategy annually, potentially growing the Bitcoin and stablecoin treasuries to $1 billion each, augmenting Cardano’s financial reserves.

“This sets us up for great returns and a pretty stable floor for the ecosystem,” Hoskinson remarked in a viral video.

Crypto Stakeholders Criticize Him

While several Cardano enthusiasts supported the proposal, others criticized Hoskinson for planning to convert ADA into Bitcoin. Popular crypto investor Anthony Pompliano was among the critics.

According to Pompliano, Hoskinson implicitly admitted that ADA cannot “hold water” or outperform Bitcoin over time. He also suggested that Hoskinson’s strategy implied that the only way to create long-term economic value was to sell ADA from the treasury and buy Bitcoin.

“This indicates that the altcoin founder understands that Bitcoin is never going away,” Pompliano remarked.

ALERT: Altcoin founders are dumping their tokens to buy bitcoin.

They are admitting who will be the last man standing. pic.twitter.com/Od5vNZHgtn

— Anthony Pompliano 🌪 (@APompliano) June 16, 2025

He further emphasized that Hoskinson’s proposal mirrors the “speculative attack” concept popularized by Bitcoin entrepreneur Pierre Rochard in 2014. The concept involves companies selling their assets to acquire Bitcoin, thereby promoting its adoption.

In Hoskinson’s case, Pompliano noted that the Cardano founder intends to sell ADA from the treasury in exchange for Bitcoin. He also emphasized that the substantial gains recorded by Bitcoin-focused treasury companies, such as Metaplanet, have become too significant to ignore.

Data from Metaplanet’s website shows that the price of the company’s stock has grown 9,610% since it first acquired Bitcoin in April 2024. The share price has spiked from ¥19 ($0.13) to ¥1,845 ($12.74) within this period.

As a result, Pompliano suggested that Metaplanet’s remarkable growth may have motivated Hoskinson’s proposal to convert a portion of the ADA treasury to Bitcoin.

Sunny Decree Trolls Hoskinson Over Ethereum and Cardano Ties

Bitcoin investor Sunny Decree also took a jab at Hoskinson. He sarcastically outlined a pattern he claims Hoskinson used to build wealth.

The alleged pattern involves premining Ethereum, pitching its real-world use cases to attract investors, selling the ETH holdings to buy Bitcoin, and then repeating the process with Cardano.

Hoskinson, one of Ethereum’s co-founders, left the project in 2014 and launched Cardano three years later. Following Hoskinson’s Bitcoin investment proposal, Sunny criticized investors still holding ADA, calling them “blind.”

HOW TO MAKE MONEY AND SCAM EVERYONE BY LOOKING SMART:

1. Premine Ethereum
2. Tell everyone Ethereum solves real-world problems
3. Sell Ethereum to buy Bitcoin
4. Premine Cardano
5. Tell everyone Cardano solves real-world problems
6. Sell Cardano to buy Bitcoin

Honestly, if… pic.twitter.com/iDkMu8W5jv

— sunnydecree (@sunnydecree) June 16, 2025

Crypto Author Criticizes Hoskinson

Terence Michael, author of “Proof Of Money: The Big Idea Behind Bitcoin,” also slammed the Cardano founder for planning to sell ADA for BTC.

Michael issued a wake-up call to investors, emphasizing that the primary goal of most crypto projects is to sell their tokens rather than position these assets as stores of value.

He urged investors to imagine a scenario in which Bitcoin’s pseudonymous founder, Satoshi Nakamoto, sells BTC to buy ADA. The crypto author emphasized that Hoskinson does not just plan to swap ADA for BTC but aims to establish a Bitcoin treasury.

However, Hoskinson has largely ignored these criticisms, as he remains focused on expanding Cardano’s DeFi and stablecoin ecosystem. Earlier, he dismissed concerns about the potential impact of the sale on ADA’s price.

He suggested that the ADA sale would be handled through over-the-counter (OTC) and time-weighted average prices (TWAPs), which would shield the token from any potential price impact.