Cardano founder renews call for ‘verified tweets’ after social media hack

Hoskinson advocates for biometric authentication and public-key cryptography to enhance social media security.

Web Summit / CC BY 2.0 / Flickr. Remixed by CryptoSlate

Charles Hoskinson, the founder of the Cardano network, has renewed his call to integrate “verified tweets” on social media platform X (formerly Twitter).

This proposal was prompted after the official X account of the Cardano Foundation was hacked to promote scams and spread false information over the weekend.

Cardano Foundation hack

On Dec. 8, malicious attackers accessed the Cardano Foundation’s account and used it to announce a fictitious ADASOL token they claimed was a Cardano-inspired token built on Solana for “speed and innovation.”

While this fraudulent post was removed within an hour, the hackers followed up with another false claim. They alleged that the Foundation had received a lawsuit from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), leading to a supposed halt in all support for Cardano’s native token, ADA.

The Cardano Foundation has since deleted the malicious tweets but has not issued any official statement addressing the incident.

Hoskinson’s solution

Reacting to the breach, Hoskinson suggested that the Cardano community would actively investigate the incident. He also hinted that federal authorities might be interested in the issue.

He stated:

“Now the fun part comes for us. As Cardano is a digital nation, many of our citizens are also in law enforcement. Let the swarm of investigations begin”

Hoskinson also suggested revisiting the verified tweets feature he initially proposed in 2020. He highlighted that this feature could significantly enhance security on the platform.

Hoskinson’s idea revolves around leveraging public-key cryptography to strengthen identity verification. He emphasized that the approach would not disrupt X’s operational model but would empower users to verify their posts independently.

The concept includes requiring biometric authentication before publishing content, such as fingerprint or facial recognition.

Hoskinson pitched the concept to Jack Dorsey, the platform’s former CEO, after a significant hacking event in 2020. Back then, he offered to develop the system for a fee. He has proposed implementing it for free if Elon Musk supports the initiative.

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