Charles Hoskinson Eleboration on his Ethereum Comments - 13/06/2020
(Written by @Eric_Czuleger)
On June 13th Charles Hoskinson sat down to discuss media messaging regarding his relationship with Ethereum.
Quick Summary
-Charles Hoskinson is often identified as ‘Ethereum cofounder’ in the media, while this is technically accurate, it is not representative of the messaging focus of IOHK.
-Ethereum was 6 months of the career of Charles Hoskinson, IOHK has been five years.
-Journalists and media outlets that continue with this messaging will no longer be granted interviews.
-This is motivated out of a desire to put IOHK and the Cardano community first in the media.
-As always we remain focused on the future rather than the past.
Clarifying comments
In order to clarify comments made about IOHK’s relationship to Ethereum we ask our community to consider the fact that Cardano hosted a celebration of the two-year anniversary of Byron in Bulgaria. Media were in attendance at this particular event. The purpose of this was to give in-depth interviews on he technology, partnerships, and holistic vision of the project as a whole. However, this was not achieved in the form of earned media.
An article then came out about Charles Hoskinson’s relationship with Ethereum. This piece focused particularly on his supposed desire to succeed ahead of Ethereum. Most interviews involve a question about Ethereum. However, this is not the story that we want in our messaging. Cardano is not a vanity project to destroy Ethereum. This has consistently been the massaging, but the media chooses instead to pit the two projects against one another.
We believe that the ‘Ethereum co-founder’ stories are antithetical to our goals. This is because it seems to infer that Cardano is a revenge play against Ethereum which it is not. Secondarily, when Charles Hoskinson is identified only as an Ethereum co-founder, and his current role is not mentioned, then Ethereum gets credit for ideas which are represented in Cardano. IOHK works to ensure that Charles Hoskinson is represented as the CEO of Input Output, rather than an Ethereum co-founder. However, the media problem continues.
Room for everyone
We care about Ethereum if what they are doing is interesting, competitive, and perhaps something that we can partner with. As far as the political end of things, we are uninterested. Cardano is one of the few platforms which includes an Ethereum node. Mantis worked with both Ethereum and Ethereum Classic. Ultimately, we are weary of the narrative of IOHK being contrary to Ethereum. It is inaccurate.
Charles Hoskinson has spent the majority of his career and wealth working with IOHK and Cardano. When he is doing interviews he discusses the work of his current company and not his previous company. If IOHK and Cardano are omitted from an article in which he is interviewed then it does not help the Cardano ecosystem. It is counterproductive when the media does not lead with Cardano in conversation with Charles Hoskinson.
Focus on the future
In the end, we have no time for the past. There is a lot of news coming out about the Cardano ecosystem. Ethereum is in the past. There are books coming out this year and there is enough primary sourcing to understand the relationship between Cardano and Ethereum. We are more than happy to discuss our work in Africa, Ouroboros, or the many other initiatives IOHK is working on. However, we remain uninterested in the ‘Cardano attempts to slay Ethereum’ narrative.
IOHK put its money where it’s mouth was. We are building an inclusive infrastructure for the future of humanity. This is a large space. Ethereum can coexist with Cardano. There is plenty of room for everyone and there is a great deal of difference between our two organizations. Ultimately, the market will decide what it prefers. We prefer to just tell people who we are rather than who we aren’t.
Cardano first
The Cardano community has earned their role in the space. They deserve the credit due to them. To that end we believe that IOHK leadership should place Cardano at the forefront of all discussions. The past is for biographers and for students of history. At this point we are, as we always have been, far more interested in the future than the past.
We hope that the media will respect this in the future. Interviews will only be granted if the story focuses on the work of Cardano and IOHK. If a relationship with Ethereum becomes the lead of the piece then that journalist will no longer be granted interview access. If a publication continues to behave in such a manner then we will not interface with them in the future.
IOHK centered messaging
We don’t believe that any of these pieces in the media were born out of malicious intent. We believe that this is a result of editors attempting to drive traffic on their website. In the end, we believe that sticking to our principles is the most important thing. That means that in all messaging we must place Cardano first.
We have people around the world working all day everyday day on world-class research and development. Our community and our employees deserve the credit. Ethereum was in the past of IOHK CEO Charles Hoskinson. It was six months of time. The last five years and on into the future will focus around Cardano. We would like all messaging to focus on that as well
