Name: Charles Hoskinson Warns Partisan Politics Could Kill Crypto in the U.S.
Uploaded: 2026-01-22T15:00:32+00:00
Duration: 1941 s

Speakers

Charles Hoskinson — CEO & Founder, Input Output

Summary

Charles Hoskinson joins CoinDesk's Jennifer Sanasie to discuss the State of the Blockchain 2025 report, explaining why layer 1 fundamentals grew while token prices lagged. He argues crypto is a coiled spring awaiting a bull market, highlights privacy and compliant identity as emerging themes, and warns that AI, U.S. dollar policy, and partisan crypto legislation pose major risks. He also criticizes the amended Clarity Act as centralized and weaponizable, saying it could kill U.S. DeFi and the broader U.S. crypto market.

Layer 1 network activity and TVL grew, but token valuations underperformed in 2025.
Hoskinson sees crypto as a coiled spring held back by macro and policy shocks.
He flags privacy as an emerging narrative while warning many privacy platforms are not fit for purpose.
He is positive on Cardano roadmap execution and describes Midnight's compliant-privacy, Lace ID, and global-exclusion strategy.
He warns the AI boom is overinvested and Nvidia is systemically fragile.
He sees U.S. foreign policy and Fed politicization weakening dollar confidence and accelerating de-dollarization.
He argues the amended Clarity Act favors banks, threatens DeFi, and could be weaponized against U.S. crypto.
He says memecoin and NFT speculation has burned retail and the 10x/100x era is over.

Ideas

Charles Hoskinson CEO & Founder, Input Output 1:45

Memecoin speculation era is over.

Memecoins have burned retail investors, and consumers now demand utility and real experiences rather than 10x/100x speculation. Charles argues the age of memecoin-driven appreciation is over as the market matures.

Charles Hoskinson CEO & Founder, Input Output 2:16

Crypto is a coiled spring.

Network fundamentals such as MAUs, TVL, and transactions grew and large layer 1s executed major roadmap work, but macro shocks and delayed U.S. legislation suppressed valuations. That leaves the crypto market, especially layer 1s, like a coiled spring poised for a bull market.

Charles Hoskinson CEO & Founder, Input Output 2:42

Privacy is emerging crypto narrative.

Privacy is becoming a major crypto narrative as consumers reject permanent tracking and the burn cycles from memecoins and NFTs. However, most current privacy platforms are not fit for purpose and no end-to-end solution exists yet, so the theme is an emerging setup rather than a mature trade.

Charles Hoskinson CEO & Founder, Input Output 2:47

Cardano roadmap execution supports ADA

Cardano is among the large layer 1s that executed significant roadmap milestones during a strong builder year. That execution, plus the broader crypto fundamental improvement, positions ADA to benefit when the market turns.

Charles Hoskinson CEO & Founder, Input Output 3:36

AI and NVDA are fragile.

The AI industry is overinvested, and Nvidia has become systemically important: if its profit growth stalls, the U.S. economy could be severely damaged. Charles sees a looming bubble that could either take markets much higher or burst and destroy a meaningful slice of U.S. GDP, making AI and NVDA fragile.

Charles Hoskinson CEO & Founder, Input Output 4:56

Midnight offers compliant privacy globally.

Midnight is building an end-to-end privacy and smart-compliance stack with Lace ID, selective disclosure, and automated KYC/AML. If U.S. regulation turns hostile, its ability to blacklist U.S. customers lets it operate as a global network excluding the U.S., which Charles presents as a differentiator and claims is more valuable than comparable privacy projects.

Charles Hoskinson CEO & Founder, Input Output 7:14

Policy erodes dollar confidence.

U.S. foreign policy and threats to Federal Reserve independence are undermining international confidence in the dollar. Foreign actors are beginning a multi-year, irreversible shift away from USD, including pricing oil in yuan or euro and cutting ties with American businesses, which is structurally bearish for the dollar.

Charles Hoskinson CEO & Founder, Input Output 11:04

Book.io offers anti-Kindle ownership.

Book.io is a Cardano ecosystem project offering an anti-Kindle digital book ownership model where buyers hold licenses that cannot be revoked. Its deals with William Shatner and Snoop Dogg give it differentiated content and monetization exposure.

Charles Hoskinson CEO & Founder, Input Output 12:45

Near leads consumer-friendly crypto UX.

Near Protocol is singled out as doing the consumer-friendly UX work needed for mainstream adoption, hiding wallets and recovery behind biometrics and pin codes. That Web2-like experience is a key requirement for the next wave of crypto users.

Charles Hoskinson CEO & Founder, Input Output 21:47

Clarity Act threatens U.S. DeFi.

The amended Clarity Act is not real clarity: it gives the SEC unilateral authority, bans yield-bearing stablecoins, decimates DeFi, and can be weaponized by a future Democratic administration to ban DeFi and kill the U.S. crypto market. Real DeFi projects will be forced to exclude U.S. customers.

Charles Hoskinson Warns Partisan Politics Could Kill Crypto in the U.S.

Summary

Ideas

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