Charles Hoskinson, the founder of Cardano, recently found himself in a rather unusual situation. A memecoin named after him, CHARLES, unexpectedly ended up in his wallet.
How it Happened
During a live demo showcasing Cardano’s Lace wallet, Hoskinson briefly displayed a paper wallet on camera. This was meant to highlight the wallet’s security, not to invite random tokens. However, the CHARLES token appeared in his wallet shortly after. The community was surprised to see this token gain significant traction, reaching a market value of around $71 million and a daily trading volume exceeding $5 million within a single day.
The Big Burn
Instead of cashing in on this unexpected windfall (which many would have done!), Hoskinson decided to publicly burn the nearly 900 billion CHARLES tokens in his possession (about 90% of the total supply). He created a script (verified by his team member Lucas) that sent the tokens to a “black hole” address – an address from which they couldn’t be retrieved. The entire process, including transaction fees, cost him a mere 1.42 ADA.
He joked about the irony of burning what was, at one point, worth over $80 million, saying he doesn’t operate that way. He even tested the burning script with other tokens before committing to the CHARLES burn.
A Lesson Learned (and a Hilarious Story)
Hoskinson stressed that while the whole thing was entertaining in a strange way, he urged the community not to repeat such actions. He highlighted that the more likely issue in the current crypto landscape is the unsolicited airdropping of tokens into wallets, rather than malicious actors directly draining funds. The entire event serves as a cautionary tale and a surprisingly funny anecdote in the world of crypto.