Cardano Founder Charles Hoskinson Cuts Ties with Iagon Amid Leadership Dispute, IAG Dips 34%

Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson has publicly distanced himself from decentralized cloud storage project Iagon.

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He warned that both the platform and its IAG token could fail if the current leadership stays in charge. His comments came after a tense disagreement over governance votes on proposals from Input Output Global (IOG).

• Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson has publicly distanced himself from Iagon, warning that its token could face steep devaluation.
• The dispute began after Blockfrost integrated with Filecoin to introduce cloud storage capabilities to Cardano.
• Iagon CEO Navjit Dhaliwal urged DReps to vote against IOG’s treasury proposal.
• Iagon claimed the remarks reflected its CEO’s personal views, but Hoskinson insists the project is unlikely to succeed under its current leadership.
• The market has already reacted to the tension, with IAG plunging 34% in just two days.

The Cardano ecosystem experienced a fresh phase of tension over the weekend as a public clash unfolded between Hoskinson and Navjit Dhaliwal, CEO of Iagon.

According to Hoskinson, the conflict began after Blockfrost integrated with Filecoin to introduce a premium cloud storage tier for Cardano developers. He had strongly supported this initiative, positioning it as a step toward expanding infrastructure options.

However, the move did not sit well with Dhaliwal. Notably, Iagon operates its own decentralized storage and compute marketplace within the Cardano ecosystem. Accordingly, some community members suggested the integration may have intensified competitive tensions.

Hoskinson accused Iagon of voting against IOG-backed proposals not on merit but out of “spite and anger”. He also highlighted how the project publicly pressured Cardano governance ambassadors to discourage participation in voting, particularly in support of IOG’s nine treasury proposals aimed at improving network performance.

Although the Iagon team later clarified that Dhaliwal’s actions were personal, Hoskinson maintained his stance. He formally severed ties with the project and warned that it could collapse and erode the value of token holders’ holdings unless leadership changes. Specifically, he suggested that replacing current leadership could prevent this outcome.

In addition, he reaffirmed his broader strategy. He emphasized support for multiple decentralized infrastructure providers, including decentralized storage networks like Filecoin, to ensure Cardano developers have diverse and reliable options.

I have no more time for that project until they change leadership. It will fail and destroy lots of value for their token holders.

We all just have to move on now. I'm going to support bringing lots of decentralized infrastructure providers to Cardano so our developers have…

— Charles Hoskinson (@IOHK_Charles) April 26, 2026

Meanwhile, the market quickly reacted to the dispute. IAG, Iagon’s governance token, dropped sharply from about $0.038 to $0.025 within 48 hours, marking a 34% decline.

While it later recovered slightly to $0.02815 at press time, the token remained down 18.26% on the day and 25% over the week.

In addition, trading activity surged. IAG’s volume rose 44% to $14.59 million, with most flows indicating selling pressure, signaling shaken investor confidence following the public fallout.