TL;DR
- Developer Roman Kireev resigned from IOG due to fears generated by the intervention of federal authorities.
- The crisis was triggered by a “poisonous transaction” that caused a partition in the Cardano mainnet.
- Charles Hoskinson defended his stance, citing a duty to report malicious attacks on a public network.
The Cardano community is trying to weather the significant turmoil left by the resignation of Roman Kireev, a senior developer at Input Output Global (IOG), Charles Hoskinson’s company.The developer decided to resign after the Cardano founder allowed an FBI investigation into a staking pool operator who caused a partition in the main network.
The incident was reported on November 21st. On that day, the operator, identified as Homer J, dispatched a transaction he later described as “careless.” His action generated two different blockchain histories on the Cardano mainnet: one healthy chain and the other with the problematic transaction.
Engineers from the Cardano Foundation, Intersect, and IOG met in a “war room” seeking a quick solution.
Charles Hoskinson, amidst the crisis, sided with the authorities, unequivocally stating: “I supported criminal charges against the DAO hacker.”
Cardano Senior Developer Resignation and Fear for Safety
According to Kireev, his resignation is due to a fear for his “basic safety,” dreading retaliation from higher echelons of Cardano. The developer argued that if the community wants him to continue securing the computational layer, he would need significant compensation for a risk he was unaware he was taking on.
Kireev emphasized his importance to the network’s security, stating that most vulnerabilities in the computational layer were either directly discovered by him or originated from his ideas.
The developer personally blamed Hoskinson for involving the federal agency, suggesting that he should have allowed the investigation to proceed before publicly accusing someone of being a criminal to an audience of a million people.
Despite his departure from IOG, the developer indicated that he plans to continue working in the Cardano ecosystem, but outside the main company’s structure.
For his part, Hoskinson defended his decision, reiterating that involving the FBI was the right thing to do.
“A person who maliciously attacked a public network… is responsible for depriving millions of people of their property,” he stated.
The Cardano founder also claimed to have highly specific details about the alleged attacker, whom he described as a “disgruntled stake pool operator.” Hoskinson dismissed Kireev’s resignation as “complete bullshit and ridiculous.”
Nevertheless, Hoskinson’s actions have generated criticism within the community, with some users pointing out that bragging about sending federal law enforcement after someone who can “break” the blockchain “isn’t the flex you think it is.”
