Coinspeaker
Charles Hoskinson Disagrees with Vitalik Buterin’s Position on Voting Pro-Crypto Candidates
Charles Hoskinson, the co-founder of the Cardano blockchain and Input Output Global, has rejected Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin’s advice that people should not vote for political candidates solely because of their crypto stance.
Hoskinson against Buterin, Believes Support for Crypto Is Enough to Vote a Candidate
In an X post responding to Buterin, Hoskinson, also an Ethereum co-founder, explains that the “first goal” is to keep government authorities away from the cryptocurrency industry. He suggests that the alternative to that is to ignore candidates who are anti-crypto and will not support the sector. Hoskinson indirectly criticized the Biden government’s actions against crypto, including suing non-custodial wallet providers, jailing crypto leaders, classifying assets as securities, and harassing crypto exchanges.
He then goes on to explain that politicians must know that there will be responses to their actions and policies. Explaining his point, Hoskinson wrote:
“Politics is a game of cause and effect. If politicians understand that bullying and harassing our industry translates to lost elections, then suddenly, they avoid doing that. It’s not complex, nor should [it] invent massive cognitive hierarchies to excuse one’s personal distaste of particular people.”
Hoskinson ended his post by asking people to “vote for pro-crypto candidates”. He added that “a vote for Biden is a vote for the death of the American crypto industry”.
Responding to Hoskinson, several X users disagreed with the Cardano co-founder’s call for voting on a “single issue”. Users called Hoskinson’s point an oversimplification, explaining that there are other issues to be considered and many reasons to think one candidate may be better than another.
However, Hoskinson doubled down, explaining that crypto is necessary to change the world. He added that politicians would be more reasonable about the crypto sector if they knew members of the community are willing to reduce their chance of election “to that wedge point.”
Ahead of US Elections, Buterin Advises against Solely Voting Based on Crypto Promises
In an article posted Tuesday, Buterin had advised against favoring political parties and candidates based on whether or not they support the crypto sector. In his article, Buterin raised several issues, including suggesting that authoritarian governments sometimes appear to be pro-crypto but are only supportive of their benefit.
The Ethereum co-founder used Russia as an example, explaining that the Russian government supports cryptocurrencies when it helps them avoid restrictions and sanctions from other regions. However, the same government is against its citizens freely using crypto. As an example, Buterin noted that a Siberian regional court sentenced a 21-year-old to nine years in jail for sending $30 to a Ukrainian fund. Buttressing his point, Buterin added a 2018 picture of himself and several others, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, to the article. He explained that, at the time, members of the Russian government were open to crypto.
Buterin’s article also explains that “crypto-friendly now does not mean crypto-friendly five years from now”. He asked that people research each candidate’s views from years ago to confirm whether or not their stance has always been pro-crypto and supportive of freedom.
While he didn’t specify, Vitalik Buterin’s comments are likely connected to the upcoming US Presidential election, which has seen crypto community members publicly declare support for Donald Trump. Over the last few months, Trump has repeatedly promised to support the crypto sector if he wins the election.
Charles Hoskinson Disagrees with Vitalik Buterin’s Position on Voting Pro-Crypto Candidates
