Donald Trump’s arrival in the White House promised a new era of adoption and favorable regulations for the cryptocurrency sector. This hope was initially shared by Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson, but now seems to have given way to deep disillusionment, which began with the launch of the TRUMP memecoin.
Charles Hoskinson criticizes Donald Trump’s crypto policy
During his election campaign, Donald Trump made numerous promises regarding the cryptocurrency sector. This approach was widely welcomed and supported by an American ecosystem tired of fighting against the repressive policy pursued by the Biden administration and former SEC chairman Gary Gensler.
At the time, Cardano blockchain founder Charles Hoskinson liked to present himself as a close crypto advisor to Donald Trump. This position allowed his ADA token to feature in the first announcements of a national strategic cryptocurrency reserve, already a far cry from the initial promise of an exclusively Bitcoin reserve.
Then Donald Trump launched his TRUMP memecoin, and nothing would ever be the same again. This crossed a line that triggered what Charles Hoskinson describes as an obvious loss of credibility for the crypto ecosystem, now caught between toxic politicization and “institutionalized financial predation.”
All of this opens up the debate on market manipulation and ultimately turns into a campaign argument for 2026. When the Democrats run for re-election, they will say: “crypto = Trump = bad,” “crypto = corruption.” This kind of behavior instrumentalizes the sector in such a way that half of America now hates cryptocurrencies.
Charles Hoskinson
A situation “worse than under Joe Biden’s presidency”
Faced with this situation, Donald Trump has ruined any chance of bipartisan, calm crypto regulation in the US because of his repeated conflicts of interest, to the point of risking a delay that could last until 2029.
To support his analysis, Charles Hoskinson points to three key elements of Donald Trump’s crypto policy that he considers problematic, particularly due to his administration’s lack of clarity and vision—other than opportunistic and short-term thinking:
- An incompetent “crypto czar,” David Sacks;
- A total lack of coordination with the crypto sector;
- Confusion between political, financial, and regulatory interests.
There is no accountability. There is no respect for the rule of law or the principle of checks and balances. It is a mechanism for transferring wealth to Trump and his friends. And it hasn’t helped any crypto players.
Charles Hoskinson
According to Charles Hoskinson, the cryptocurrency ecosystem has lost its original philosophical foundation in this race for personal enrichment. This reality has also been accelerated by the takeover of the sector by traditional finance, to the point of turning it into just another financial product like any other.
Finally, he points to the accelerated development of AI as a much more immediate threat than quantum risk, as it increases the risk of attack and the detection of vulnerabilities that can be exploited by malicious actors.
