Charles Hoskinson, founder of Cardano, used a speech at a UN-affiliated FinTech event to warn that the digital euro could be used to discriminate against certain assets and transactions, calling for binding legal limits on how such state-controlled digital currencies can be deployed.
"Warum ich euch Europäern beim digitalen Euro nicht vertraue, ist, dass wir alle wissen, was ihr damit machen werdet: Vermögenswerte und Transaktionen diskriminieren," Hoskinson said, directing his criticism at European policymakers behind the project.
He illustrated his concern with a scenario involving everyday payments. "Du wirst digitale Euros auf deinem Bankkonto haben und an der Tankstelle Benzin kaufen wollen. Und selbst wenn du 2000 Euro auf deinem Bankkonto hast, wird deine Karte abgelehnt, weil du diesen Monat bereits 50 Liter Benzin gekauft hast," he said, describing the kind of restriction he believes a centrally controlled digital currency could impose.
Hoskinson later referenced the appearance on social media, posting "Here's my speech at the UN" on October 2, 2026.
A broader critique of regulatory models
Beyond the digital euro, Hoskinson laid out a wider argument about how regulators approach emerging technologies. He said current regulatory models for fields such as AI, synthetic biology, nanotechnology and blockchain fall short because these technologies develop exponentially and increasingly reinforce one another, while laws and institutions were not built for that pace or for growing decentralization.
He argued that authorities have tried to treat blockchain projects like conventional financial companies, an approach he said does not work because decentralized systems can keep running even if their founders fail or the companies behind them disappear.
At the same time, Hoskinson rejected the idea of full deregulation for the crypto sector. Instead, he proposed that authorities define clear goals, such as consumer protection, fraud prevention, property rights or privacy, while industry builds open software to technically implement those requirements, with certified solutions then integrated directly into applications.
Hoskinson also suggested that blockchain should be seen not only as something to be regulated but as potential infrastructure for regulation itself, arguing this could make compliance cheaper and more easily scalable across borders.
