Hi, this is Charles Hoskinson broadcasting live from warm, sunny Colorado. Today is June 6, 2024. It's another wonderful Thursday, and I wanted to make a quick video to talk about our good friends at that wonderful organization, Bankless.
As many of you know, they run a podcast; it’s one of those Ethereum-branded podcasts in that ecosystem. Historically, they have been quite negative about Cardano. They offered for me to come on the podcast, which they've done multiple times. Recently, one of their hosts said, "Okay, Charles, now is as good a time as any. Want to come on Bankless and tell us why Cardano is alive?"
I haven’t kept up with the project at all, so I thought, if they’re being real and fair about this, we have an event called Rare Evo. It’s not a minor thing; it’s a community-driven event in the Cardano ecosystem that has broadened the tent and brought in other ecosystems as well. This event is really about showcasing the best of us as a community. There are going to be hundreds of Cardano events and thousands of people there.
So, if you are completely a blank slate and have spent years being negative about the Cardano ecosystem, saying it’s a ghost chain with no activity or users, I invited them to come to Rare Evo and immerse themselves in the whole ecosystem. I mentioned that we could do a podcast in my Blackhawk helicopter. I’m actually bringing it out to try to put it on the Strip and use it as a billboard for Rare Evo, wrapped with all the logos, but also as an impromptu podcast studio.
This is a good faith attempt to show the Bankless guys that if they’re serious about our ecosystem, they should come and get exposed to it. They owe it to us because they’ve spent years criticizing the ecosystem. However, I received a response saying, "I appreciate the counter-invite, but I don’t really want to go with you in a helicopter right now; just a normal podcast would be fine."
Of course, people are saying this is about ego and that I’m bragging about the Blackhawk. But you see how media works; this isn’t about ego. It’s about a fair and accurate representation of an ecosystem. Rare Evo is where the Cardano community will be in August. There will be so many interesting projects there. If you’re legitimately interested in Cardano, come to Rare Evo and just talk to people.
You’ll find projects building on Cardano with real investors and customers. Instead, they want me to come on their podcast and prove that Cardano isn’t dead. They’ll say, "Cardano’s dead; prove that it’s not." I can present all our growth metrics, but they’ll just dismiss it. They’ll say, "How are you going to beat Solana? Solana has already beaten you; your price sucks."
It’s hard to have that conversation when you’re surrounded by 3,000 of our people at the podcast. You can say Cardano doesn’t exist, but then all the people around you start booing and saying, "Cardano exists; we’re here." If you’re a fair and objective person, you’d realize there’s a real community, real projects, real passion, and real effort.
You could start talking to these people and ask them why they are building on Cardano instead of Solana or Ethereum. Or, you could just go on and say the three things: Cardano is Charles Hoskinson; the only thing they need to do to understand the entirety of the Cardano ecosystem is attack me; and nobody cares about Cardano in the broader cryptocurrency ecosystem.
That’s been a great 45 minutes or an hour of back and forth, and guess what? They’ll get clicks. It’ll be one of the highest-rated podcast episodes they’ve ever had because everyone who doesn’t like us will share it, saying, "Look, they finally got Charles," and all the people who like us will share it, saying, "Charles finally put that Bankless guy in his place." They’ll laugh all the way back as they get record high ratings and more sponsorships.
Why do we play that game? If you are interested in an actual conversation, come to Rare Evo. You can see our ecosystem and community. I will spend as much time with you as you want. I can sit in a wooden chair for five hours if you want me to, right in the middle of Las Vegas. We can talk about everything, the entire space, and 14 years of history.
Just walk the floors, talk to the people, attend the presentations, and ask them a fair question: "Why are you building on Cardano?" They’ll tell you, and you’ll leave that conference knowing it’s the real deal. This is a real ecosystem with a lot going on, and it’s exciting.
I don’t have time for you if you’re not willing to do that. What have you done for us as an ecosystem outside of saying we’re a cult, a ghost chain, or that there’s no real economic value? You’ve implied that we’re criminals while praising Luna and other projects. Come on, guys, honestly grow up.
I will never allow us to be a useful idiot for your ratings. If you want to talk to someone else in the Cardano ecosystem, invite Fred Gard from the Cardano Foundation on your podcast. But if you want me, the only place you’re going to get me is at Rare Evo. I’ll even do it at 2:30 in the morning on the Strip if you want a little sketch.
At the very least, you’d be giving us the benefit of the doubt and coming in with an open mind, wanting to have a real conversation about a real ecosystem. If you’re unwilling or unable to do that, then you don’t really want to have a real conversation; you’re just here to criticize us yet again.
I’m not in that mood these days. We have things to build. Cardano is here, and I’m sorry that our existence causes you pain, but we’re going for number one as an ecosystem. We know how to scale, we have the best interoperability and governance plan, and we’re just getting started. There are millions of us, and we figured out how to do this together as a community.
If you can’t get that, then you don’t deserve to understand crypto. It’s that simple. I hope to see you in Vegas in August; it’s not too far away. I’ll comp your tickets. Cheers!
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