The founder of the Cardano project, Charles Hoskinson, during a recent stream, expressed a very unpopular opinion these days. His startup will not work on «passports for the vaccinated,» as this runs counter to everyone’s personal freedoms.
Let us remind you that projects like Icon and VeChain are already integrating a set of functions for such passports.
The cost of Cardano ADA is in the $ 2.9 zone today. The cryptocurrency has remained stable over the past two weeks, however, over the past month, its rate has jumped by 106.8 percent, that is, has doubled.
Cardano ADA chart for the last three months
The price record at $ 3.09 was recorded on September 2, 2021. Since then, the rate has dipped 6 percent.
The recent rise in the value of the cryptoasset is linked to investor expectations amid the long-awaited implementation of smart contracts on the Cardano blockchain. However, as it turned out over the weekend, this feature had a serious bug on the ADA testnet. Basically, platforms in the blockchain cryptocurrency – for example, decentralized exchanges like Uniswap – cannot add more than one transaction to each block. Accordingly, this makes the use of such platforms almost impossible. The Cardano community is now looking forward to a fix for this bug.
At the same time, Charles himself shines in the news quite often. For example, last week he said that cryptocurrencies can help the people of Afghanistan, who are now in a difficult situation due to the political situation in the country. Hoskinson suggests that it is digital assets that will allow citizens to enjoy financial anonymity and at the same time preserve the value of their savings. Read more about his point of view here.
Cardano against censorship
Vaccination passports are special documents confirming the fact that a person has received a vaccine against COVID-19. Some governments are willing to introduce them to authorize cross-border travel. This is supposedly necessary in order to keep the risks of infection under control. While “passports” are meant to be border crossings, some countries – France, for example – have already made them pass into public places like restaurants or concerts.
Vaccination card
Using blockchains to create documents is a logical initiative as the records in the blockchain cannot be forged. In addition, blockchains are transparent, which means that anyone can study what is happening in them. However, Hoskinson himself sharply spoke out against such «passports». Here’s a quote from him posted on Fintechzoom.
It is a matter of concern that many countries are discussing the use of “passports” as a criterion for public life. Going to a restaurant, nightclub, coffee shop, concert or any public event that may end in the spread of a virus may be restricted.
Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson
Hoskinson added that while all of this may bring some minor health benefits in the short term, the main problem is that governments can use «passports» to restrict freedoms.
I am deeply concerned that such infrastructure, if used to restrict freedom of movement, is a “refusal” mechanism. It will inevitably be turned into a weapon by those with a more totalitarian outlook.
This means that the developer assumes that such passports will be used with negative connotations. For example, for some, this would mean a ban on entering some kind of institution. Charles does not want to associate his blockchain with such situations, since blockchain technology should be used for the benefit of humanity, and not create additional problems.
The rise in the number of COVID-19 infections
Charles’s final remarks on the matter are that Cardano will not get involved with the initiative. The developer continues.
It is very important for us that what is promised to you is not misused or misused.
We believe that there is logic in this point of view. Obviously, vaccination passports are already being used to restrict the freedoms and movement of individual citizens, so Charles’s reluctance to get involved with such projects is understandable. That said, the motivation of governments to prevent further infections is also clear. This means that here each member of the blockchain community can choose for himself how to act. And Charles Hoskinson is no exception.
