A recent forensic audit and investigation report exonerated Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson for all allegations relating to the project’s ADA voucher program.
Input Output Global (IOG), the development division of Cardano, has released a 128-page research report and forensic audit.
A study conducted by Will & Schulte, an accounting firm BDO and law firm McDermott, looked into Cardano’s voucher program, its blockchain upgrades, voucher redemption, and how ADA linked to non-depreciated vouchers.
Critics claimed that the founder of Cardano embedded code hidden in the 2021 Allegra hard fork to manipulate the blockchain. Despite denying the claim, Hoskinson stressed the need for the audit to dismiss the claim.
As a result, IOG adopted the services of BDO and McDermott and looked into the voucher program in May.
Scope of the survey
Their investigation focuses primarily on five allegations, including misleading sales practices employed in the voucher program, misuse or theft of ADAs belonging to insider voucher owners, and blockchain upgrades that interfere with ADA reimbursement.
The investigation also focuses on the private key of the voucher holder with the blockchain upgrade removed and the claim that the unredempted ADA was inappropriately redirected to Cardano Development Holdings (CDH).
Survey results
After reviewing thousands of documents, conducting forensic analysis of on-chain and chain-off-chain data, and interviewing 18 current employees, BDO and McDermott concluded that the claim was unfounded.
They shared data indicating that users successfully redeemed 14,282 vouchers. This represents 25,850,401,508 (approximately 25.9 billion) ADA tokens. This accounts for 99.2% of all ADA tokens sold under the voucher program.
According to the report, users redeemed 97% of these vouchers by the end of Cardano’s first development phase, the Byron era. In particular, as of August 15, 2025, the figure had risen to 99.2%.
Additionally, the report showed that the IOG legally forwarded the remaining unclaimed ADA to the CDH. This funding was then allocated for intersecting community projects and ecosystem development.
In conclusion, the report found that the IOG was enthusiastic about processing the Cardano voucher program.
Breading Speed: Independent Audit Dispels Cardano Voucher FUD.
Commit to transparency 🫡https://t.co/ydmgpkmzti
– Wingriders (@wingriderscom) September 3, 2025
Cardano founder Hoskinson asks for an apology
In response, Hoskinson suggested he was hoping for critics who publicly accused him of apologizing, especially now that the audit has been exposed levelled allegations against him.
I’m waiting for an apology to come…pic.twitter.com/0b9u0xoshr
– Charles Hoskinson (@iohk_charles) September 3, 2025
