{"id":11566,"date":"2025-02-05T19:01:33","date_gmt":"2025-02-05T19:01:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/?p=11566"},"modified":"2025-02-05T19:01:33","modified_gmt":"2025-02-05T19:01:33","slug":"freeze-seize-and-sidelined-cardano-founder-slams-wyomings-stablecoin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/?p=11566","title":{"rendered":"Freeze, Seize, And Sidelined: Cardano Founder Slams Wyoming\u2019s Stablecoin"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

In a livestream on February 4, 2025, Charles Hoskinson, founder of Cardano and CEO of Input Output Global (IOG), delivered a stark rebuke of Wyoming\u2019s plan to develop a state-backed stablecoin. Hoskinson alleges that \u201cfreeze and seize\u201d requirements\u2014enabled by cryptographic tools to prevent or reverse transactions\u2014were never openly disclosed in a proper product requirements document (PRD), effectively excluding Cardano and other major blockchain platforms from contention.<\/p>\n

Cardano Founder Slams Wyoming\u2019s Stablecoin As CBDC<\/h2>\n

Hoskinson\u2019s remarks<\/a> focus on the absence of transparency in Wyoming\u2019s procurement process<\/a>. According to him, the state failed to publish or share a detailed PRD that outlines key must-have features, such as the ability to freeze or seize tokens under certain legal or regulatory conditions. He says that this omission not only prevents fair competition but also poses risks to user privacy and broader blockchain adoption.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were told it would be an open process and we would know ahead of time what the product requirements would be,\u201d Hoskinson says in the video. \u201cInstead, they hid the PRD\u2026 and decided to qualify people themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

He contends that Wyoming\u2019s selection criteria were only disclosed after the fact, at which point the state allegedly gave less than five days for companies to prove they could meet the freeze-and-seize requirement. The Cardano ecosystem, he argues, could have implemented such a feature in approximately two weeks if it had been explicitly included in the PRD from the outset.<\/p>\n

To highlight Cardano\u2019s capabilities, Hoskinson contrasts fully programmable blockchains like Cardano and Ethereum with so-called \u201cfixed-function\u201d ledgers, including XRP<\/a>. Programmable chains allow developers to build new features directly into smart contracts, meaning a freeze-and-seize capability can be added if required.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn Cardano or Ethereum, if there\u2019s something the protocol doesn\u2019t support natively, you write a smart contract,\u201d he explains. \u201cSo, if we had known freeze-and-seize was a Hardline product requirement, we could have simply written a contract to satisfy it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hoskinson points to what he calls a mischaracterization by officials overseeing Wyoming\u2019s stablecoin project, who had stated that Cardano did not meet this criterion without clarifying the short timeline or undisclosed requirements.<\/p>\n

Throughout the video, Hoskinson implies that the process may have been orchestrated to favor a particular blockchain solution, suggesting that one of the decision-makers previously worked with the platform being singled out for the project. He underscores that no open bidding or public discussion took place on the critical features of the stablecoin.<\/p>\n

Hoskinson also critiques the idea that Wyoming\u2019s stablecoin would be functionally similar to a central bank digital currency (CBDC)<\/a> because of its freeze-and-seize feature and transparent ledger, warning that this undermines financial privacy. In his view, this architecture gives authorities\u2014or even third parties\u2014the power to monitor all transactions and freeze funds at will.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you hold Wyoming stablecoin, know that everything you buy is monitored and tracked,\u201d Hoskinson says. \u201cAt any given time, civil asset forfeiture\u2026 they can just seize it.\u201d\u00a0He questions the logic of investing state resources to build a product that, in his estimation, competes head-on with more established players\u2014such as Tether or Circle\u2014which have far larger budgets and market share.<\/p>\n

In his remarks, Hoskinson underscores the economic challenges Wyoming\u2019s stablecoin could face, citing a modest $5.8 million budget and a rapidly shifting regulatory environment. He argues that established stablecoin issuers generate billions in revenue and can pivot quickly to acquire or adapt to new regulations, leaving little room for a nascent state-backed project to gain market traction.<\/p>\n

\u201cTether made $13 billion last year. Circle made basically the same,\u201d he notes, pointing out the intense competition. \u201cYou have a $5.8 million budget\u2026 and at the end of the day, you\u2019re sitting on a CBDC in Wyoming.\u201d<\/p>\n

He further questions why the state would not simply \u201cwhite label\u201d an existing stablecoin infrastructure rather than build from scratch, noting that negotiating a share of Treasury bill revenue or interest payments could theoretically benefit Wyoming without incurring large development costs.<\/p>\n

Hoskinson, who lives in Wheatland, Wyoming, frames his criticism as a defense of local residents. He argues that public funds are being jeopardized in a venture that may fail to deliver a meaningful benefit to the state\u2019s taxpayers. In his view, had the PRD been openly available\u2014particularly the freeze-and-seize requirement\u2014Cardano, among other platforms, would have submitted a bid more aligned with the state\u2019s purported goals.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey don\u2019t deserve that,\u201d he says of Wyoming\u2019s workforce. \u201cThis is not how procurement works\u2026 not how anybody should operate.\u201d He calls on officials, including state legislators, to scrutinize the project more rigorously, emphasizing the need for robust debate about whether the stablecoin, as presently structured, aligns with Wyoming\u2019s pro-innovation image or inadvertently creates a centralized digital currency under federal oversight.<\/p>\n

At press time, Cardano traded at $0.75.<\/p>\n

\"Cardano<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a livestream on February 4, 2025, Charles Hoskinson, founder of Cardano and CEO of Input Output Global (IOG), delivered a stark rebuke of Wyoming\u2019s plan to develop a state-backed stablecoin. Hoskinson alleges that \u201cfreeze and seize\u201d requirements\u2014enabled by cryptographic tools to prevent or reverse transactions\u2014were never openly disclosed in a proper product requirements document […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[3,4,5],"class_list":["post-11566","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-crypto","tag-doge","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11566","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11566"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11566\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11566"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11566"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11566"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}