Author: Ben Weiss, DL News

Translated by: Felix, PANews

Charles Hoskinson, the founder of the Cardano blockchain, enjoys talking about cryptocurrency. The 36-year-old billionaire also likes to discuss aliens. In 2023, he funded an expedition to Papua New Guinea to see if interstellar objects could be alien-made, but the outcome was not as expected.

He also loves to talk endlessly about bison. He owns an 11,000-acre ranch in Wyoming, where he raises 600 of these gentle herbivores. He explained in an interview, "You can't treat bison like you would cattle." "Bison need to roam free."

Part of Hoskinson's family lineage traces back to Florence, Italy, and he jokingly claims he might be related to the Medici family, a powerful banking dynasty that commissioned works from artists like Leonardo da Vinci.

In other words, this crypto industry leader is a true "Renaissance man."

"The Puzzle"

Hoskinson may not be a ruler of an Italian city-state, but he does have a background in capital.

In 2017, he helped launch Cardano, an L1 blockchain aimed at challenging Ethereum, and he was also involved in the founding of Ethereum.

Although Cardano is often labeled a "zombie chain" or compared to other L1 blockchains like Ethereum or Solana with less on-chain activity, according to DefiLlama data, Cardano (ADA) has a market cap of about $12.5 billion. (Note from PANews: Hoskinson recently stated in an interview that he has changed his stance on Bitcoin and announced that Cardano L1 will transform into a Bitcoin L2.)

In June of this year, in response to comments about the blockchain being disconnected from the real world, Hoskinson stated, "If we have to solve the economic, political, and social problems that we all face in the real world, that will be a tremendous force that will drag the entire industry down."

Nevertheless, Hoskinson's unconventional investments have caught the attention of some crypto users. Recently in Singapore, Hoskinson elaborated on what drives his diverse interests. He stated, "I just enjoy solving puzzles."

Other crypto founders have also spent large sums supporting their "quirky" ventures. Another Ethereum co-founder, Gavin Wood, invested in his DJ career. BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes purchased a fish tank containing three blacktip reef sharks for his crypto exchange office in Hong Kong. Animoca Brands chairman Yat Siu bought a violin that once belonged to Russian Empress Catherine the Great.

Forward-Thinking Projects

However, Hoskinson, who owns a private jet and a Blackhawk helicopter and claims a net worth of about $1.2 billion, is a supporter of forward-thinking projects.

"I’m friends with Steve Wolfram (the computer scientist) and all these people." "They always bring their most pressing issues, and when you work with them, you can turn those pressing issues into your own."

On a personal level, Hoskinson does not come off as a flashy Silicon Valley tycoon but rather as a friendly scholar. Growing up in Hawaii, he became one of the original eight co-founders of Ethereum in the early 2010s. Soon, his relationship with the blockchain network's chief architect, Vitalik Buterin, became strained.

Hoskinson wanted the founders of Ethereum to create a for-profit entity and accept venture capital. Buterin wanted to maintain a non-profit organization.

Ethereum co-founder Hoskinson is funding longevity science research

Image source: Rita Franca/NurPhoto/Shutterstock

In the second half of 2014, Hoskinson left Ethereum, and the following year, he co-founded Input Output (IOHK) with former colleague Jeremy Wood. IOHK is a general company engaged in all blockchain-related businesses, with its most famous product being Cardano. It is also involved in several other projects, including the Cardano sidechain Midnight and the Cardano wallet Daedalus.

Glowing Plants

Hoskinson's interests are not limited to cryptography or blockchain. He also has a fascination with glowing plants.

"If you want to solve global warming or improve the environment, then getting involved in plant genetic engineering makes sense."

He believes that specially engineered plants can not only produce organic lighting but also sequester carbon, eliminate toxic chemicals, and provide other environmental benefits.

He showed a photo on his phone of himself smiling in the dark, holding a neon green plant. He believes that cultivating tobacco and Arabidopsis are some of the species his team has illuminated.

While Hoskinson declined to elaborate on the biological mechanisms that make his plants glow, he did mention that his team is using a new technology called CRISPR that utilizes enzyme editing genes.

Hoskinson plans to publicly showcase these plants within a year. He also mentioned bioluminescent hemp in bioengineering.

"If it contains a lot of THC, it will emit red light," he mused, noting that THC is the active ingredient in cannabis. "Just a little bit will emit green light."

Longevity Science

Hoskinson is also keen on injecting himself with stem cells, which play a crucial role in medical research due to their self-renewing properties.

His father and brother are both doctors. Hoskinson has invested $100 million to establish a health and wellness facility named Hoskinson in Gillette, Wyoming. He stated that the facility will begin its first research trial next year under the supervision of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Like many wealthy tech founders, Hoskinson is interested in longevity science. This research trial will evaluate the efficacy of combining stem cell injections with hyperbaric oxygen therapy, or the effects of patients breathing pure oxygen in a pressurized chamber.

"If my hypothesis is correct, we could reverse aging by over 10 years." The first batch of trial subjects includes Hoskinson himself. "I’m getting fatter and older, and it would be great to live longer and healthier."

Doctors have extracted his stem cells, and his mini Hoskinson cells have already begun to divide in his facility. When the FDA approves clinical trials, Hoskinson will begin receiving injections.

But this is not the only medical project he has planned.

By next summer, he plans to expand his health center in Wyoming to 70,000 square feet and incorporate disciplines such as cardiology, radiology, and immunology.

And, like any good Medici family member, he will display "priceless artworks" in the expanded clinic.

These include a "four-dimensional object," an "infinity room" inspired by Japanese legendary artist Yayoi Kusama, and a 6-foot-tall Godzilla-themed stereoscopic model.

免责声明：本文章仅代表作者个人观点，不代表本平台的立场和观点。本文章仅供信息分享，不构成对任何人的任何投资建议。用户与作者之间的任何争议，与本平台无关。如网页中刊载的文章或图片涉及侵权，请提供相关的权利证明和身份证明发送邮件到support@aicoin.com，本平台相关工作人员将会进行核查。