Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson took aim at Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse in a January 18, 2026 video, criticizing what he framed as an industry push to accept the US Clarity Act on terms that would expand the Securities and Exchange Commission’s authority over new projects.
Speaking on Jan 18, Hoskinson used a wide-ranging monologue on market fatigue, industry morale, and the mission behind Cardano and Midnight to zero in on a regulatory flashpoint: a bill he described as swollen by “137 amendments” and tilted toward the SEC. In his telling, the proposal would force crypto projects to “go beg and plead” for relief, with “all new projects” treated as securities by default.
Why Hoskinson Blasted Ripple CEO Garlinghouse
Hoskinson argued that the outcome would be a strategic own-goal, worse, in his view, than the policy uncertainty the industry has been trying to escape. “How is that any better than what Scary Gary [Gensler] gave us under Biden?” he said, referring to the SEC’s enforcement action against the crypto industry under former US President Joe Biden, before extending the critique to lobbying and political dealmaking more broadly.
Hoskinson’s sharpest remarks came when he cited unnamed industry figures he suggested are urging compromise, then called out Garlinghouse directly. “Still got people like Brad [Garlinghouse] saying well it’s not perfect but we just got to get something,” he said. “You know, it’s better than no clarity. Hand it to the same people who sued us. Hand it to the same people who put us out of business, who subpoenaed us, who put us in jail. That’s better. That’s what we fought for.”
He then framed the decision as effectively irreversible once legislated, invoking the long life of US securities law to argue that a flawed framework would calcify. “And tell me, how do we change it? Like we changed the Securities Exchange Act of 1933,” Hoskinson said. “93 years later, have we been able to change it? No. You pass it, you own it forever. Sorry, Brad. It’s not better than chaos. Take the chaos and fight for what’s right. Fight for integrity.”
How about focusing on helping shape the Clarity Bill instead of crashing out on Brad for no reason, Charles? pic.twitter.com/3jDHUiEbNp
— Vet (@Vet_X0) January 18, 2026
While the Garlinghouse jab was the most explicit, Hoskinson placed it inside a larger narrative: that crypto’s purpose is being reduced to a lobbying-driven contest for acceptable market access rather than an attempt to redesign how value and identity are handled online.
He argued that the industry is at risk of normalizing a world of “custodial wallet” defaults, pervasive KYC, and reversible transactions, outcomes he associated with legacy power structures rather than the original “revolution” ethos.
“I didn’t sign up to hand the revolution to 15 banks,” he said, describing a future where transactions can be “frozen at a whim.” Hoskinson linked those concerns to a broader critique of technological surveillance and what he called the loss of individual “agency,” suggesting the industry’s incentive structure is pulling leaders toward comfort and access rather than confrontation.
The remarks landed amid a separate thread in his talk: a rebuke of what he called “toxic learned hopelessness” in crypto discourse. Hoskinson said he had stopped using X/Twitter, still broadcasting, but not reading or engaging—arguing that constant outrage and demands for instant announcements distort how long negotiations and product development actually work.
At press time, XRP traded at $1.95.
Featured image created with DALL.E, chart from TradingView.com
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