[Cardano Founder Responds to Controversy Over $70 Million Worth of Bitcoin: Used to Pay Audit Fees in 2016] BlockBeats News, June 15 – Recently, the crypto OG project Cardano has faced controversy. The issue arose when Thomas Braziel, an investor specializing in bankruptcy claims and crypto assets, discovered through company documents and on-chain records that approximately 1,090 BTC obtained during Cardano's crowdfunding period had an unclear destination. According to Braziel, this portion of Bitcoin was initially allocated to an Isle of Man entity (an early predecessor structure of the Cardano Foundation), but the entity was dissolved in December 2025. As a result, Braziel publicly questioned on X: Hoskinson was involved with the Isle of Man entity in its early days. After the entity's dissolution, what happened to this BTC, now valued at approximately $70 million? Who controls it? Is it transparent? In response, Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson stated during an AMA yesterday that the Bitcoin was used to pay audit fees related to the project's 2016 crowdfunding sale, as it was worth only $454,000 at the time. Thomas Braziel has since requested that Hoskinson provide further evidence to substantiate this claim, including invoices, agreements, approvals, and payment records, to ensure financial transparency for the project.