Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson expanded his response to allegations that Input Output Global (IOG) misappropriated over 318 million ADA from unredeemed pre-sale wallets, calling the situation deeply personal and damaging.

In a May 18 post on X, Hoskinson reflected on the reputational toll of the allegations, noting that the incident has reshaped his view of his relationship with the Cardano community.

He added:

“For a decade, I’ve been on the front lines. To not be given the benefit of the doubt here without strong evidence to the contrary means I don’t have the connection I thought with some people.” 

Hoskinson added that following the release of an external audit, he intends to hand control of his social media account to a media team and scale back his direct engagement.

Legal pushback and audit plans

Hoskinson first responded to the allegations on May 7, saying that IOG may pursue legal action against those accusing him of redirecting unclaimed ADA from Cardano’s 2017 Token Generation Event. 

According to a social media thread by X user Masato Alexander, a December 2020 protocol update introduced a function that reassigned ADA from unredeemed UTxOs to Cardano’s reserves. 

Alexander alleged that the subsequent Move Instantaneous Rewards (MIR) transaction diverted these funds without transparency or notification to the original voucher holders.

Hoskinson countered that investors redeemed 99.8% of ADA vouchers. The remaining 0.2%, recovered under protocol rules after a seven-year window, was donated to Intersect, the Cardano industry coordination body. 

He added that an externally audited report would soon document the redemption history and crowdsale process. Hoskinson also said he would “send letters to the relevant parties demanding retractions and apologies.”

Alexander disputed the claim, citing a public statement by Intersect’s interim executive director that it received only $7 million in 2024, far less than the estimated $600 million value of the disputed ADA. He also criticized the lack of a detailed audit publicly tracing the fund flows.

Foundation and Emurgo address governance process

On May 19, the Cardano Foundation issued a statement distancing itself from the operational aspects of ADA voucher redemption after 2021. The statement added that while it received general updates, it did not provide detailed accounting. 

The foundation stated: 

“The effort to locate and support remaining voucher holders has been led by the IO team over the past four years.”

The foundation welcomed IOG’s pledge to release a third-party audit and recommended that it include all MIR transactions, balances, and any returns generated during fund administration.

Cardano’s commercial arm, Emurgo, also defended IOG’s efforts in a May 19 post. It said the seven-year redemption process involved multiple campaigns, third-party investigations in Japan, and Know Your Customer (KYC) verification.

Emurgo acknowledged:

“While the vast majority of the pre-sale ADA vouchers have been successfully redeemed, there was a small percentage that had gone unredeemed.”

The company added that the Shelley hard fork would have rendered unredeemed ADA unspendable, necessitating their movement to enable further redemptions.

The firm also expressed concern over “excessive, unwarranted FUD,” saying accusations based on limited facts caused unnecessary harm to the ecosystem. It echoed IOG’s call for an audit and urged the community to remain patient.

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HONG KONG—It was a battle of stablecoin issuers Thursday afternoon in Hong Kong, with Justin Sun, the founder of the Tron blockchain, and First Digital Trust (FDT), a Hong Kong-based fiduciary, holding press conferences over allegations of fund misappropriation involving Techteryx’s TrueUSD reserves.

Sun doubled down on claims that TrueUSD’s reserves were “misappropriated by a few bad actors,” leading to him needing to quietly bail out the stablecoin.

Sun pointed a finger the Hong Kong regulatory framework surrounding trusts, arguing at the press conference that loopholes and loose rules allowed the alleged misappropriation to occur.

“This situation highlights a serious challenge to the integrity of the financial system that must be addressed,” he said. “I found it hard to believe the scale of fraud orchestrated by a long list of licensed intermediaries.”

Sun even said that for the time being, Hong Kong trust companies should be avoided entirely, and urged regulators to take decisive action to safeguard the city’s global financial reputation.

For that case, Sun might have an ally in the shape of Hong Kong lawmaker Johnny Ng — called the city’s Web3 politician. He released a statement saying that he’s aware of multiple reports this year of alleged fraud exploiting trust companies, and acknowledged that local regulation needs to be improved.

First Digital Trust denies all allegations

After Sun’s press conference, First Digital Trust held its own event on X, with CEO Vincent Chok saying Sun had yet to produce “one solid piece of evidence” to back up his claims.

FDT followed its fiduciary duties, acted in clients’ best interests, complied with instructions from Sun and his nominees, which were signed off by Techteryx directors, and noted that the company is subject to third-party audits, Chok said.

Chok, however, acknowledged he was previously unaware of the familial connection between Aria CFF and Aria DMCC — the funds where TUSD’s reserves are held up.

In a complaint to the Department of Justice, Techteryx noted that Aria CFF, the fund it said is authorized to hold TrueUSD’s reserves is managed by Matthew Brittain. Aria DMCC, which Techteryx said is unauthorized, is controlled by his spouse, Cecilia Brittain.

Chok said FDT is working to recover funds, but know-your-customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML) issues involving the ultimate beneficial owner of Techteryx are apparently holding things up.

He also rejected Sun’s claims in a post on X that First Digital Trust is unable to fulfill redemption obligations of its FDUSD stablecoin. The token is still very much solvent, Chok said.

FDT said it plans to pursue legal action over Sun’s claims.

Earlier, the company posted examples of on-chain data showing redemptions going through.