Charles Hoskinson:  As many of you know Input Output is a global company.  And, we have people all around the world in more than 50 countries.  One of the countries where we have high density of employees and contractors is Ukraine.  About 15.  Since 2016, we have a team called team Veritas, mostly cryptographers and now we have lot of engineers….

…..People should not have to fear freedom of association, commerce and expression. We should have the ability to love the people that we love and have the ideas and thoughts that we have, and pursue the commercial endeavors that we do.

Authoritarianism does not allow you to do that.  You are only allowed to operate and whatever space the dictator and his backers mandate.  And, anything outside of that is punished harshly.  This is antithetical to everything our industry stands for.

People often say that I shouldn’t weigh in to politics and I keep reminding people that the core of who you are as an industry is political, because our fight isn’t about particular token isn’t about a particular token having a higher price or another our fight is about liberty and freedom.

To give people the power to be their own institutions. To be their own bank. To verify what previously could not be verified. Whatever that might be and ask what kind of society can exist once trust and faith has been restored in each other and the institutions that we rely upon to navigate the complexity of the world.

What kind of a society can exist when there are no more kings, and dictators and peasants – just people with means and tools to work together towards common ends with the wisdom to understand that their actions Ripple long beyond today and tomorrow – in the decades and the centuries.

Putin is an old man he is not going to live a 100 more years, probably not even 50. So, in his old age the actions he is taking today will be remembered and Rippled decades from now and will permanently change the world probably for the worse.

Is it wise that so few can have so much influence and power over the world order? Especially, if they are allowed to maintain that influence and power. Beyond the age and reason with no checks and balances.

The point of decentralization isn’t just about resilience and liability.  And, the resistance against malicious actors. It is about also reconstruction of institutions. So that we no longer have strong leaders who stay empowered too long. And, then start changing things and ways that harm all of us -without any oversight or accountability.

Universality rules. I hope that the world wakes up to the promise of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology and I hope that these types of events if there is any positive outcome to them.  The one that can be is that we can say – this was the moment that we realized we had to do things differently.

This was the moment that we realize that the world order is not in a state to be able to manage technology, life and globalism as it is today.

And, either we admit and accept that dictators will just simply take things either directly through force or indirectly through some sort of bizarre transnational arrangements which give them enormous unelected influence over our lives or we take our lives back and we do so by simply adopting the technology of freedom.

Freedom – we use that word a lot in America, because it is where we came from.  Sometimes we forget how hard the people who came before us had to fight to preserve that.

Freedom does not mean you are safe. Freedom does not mean that you are being taken care of from cradle to grave.  Freedom means you have the capacity to live out your dreams according to the route you choose yourself, and sometimes you get them and sometimes you don’t and if you don’t have the self-determination to pursue those things – your education – your destiny – you are in-charge of that.  And, sometimes we forget what it really means.  And, you are allowed the freedom to fail. In addition, to the freedom to succeed.

…. And for the people of Ukraine, it is going to be a very difficult time for a long time now. Our thoughts and prayers and hearts go out to them and care deeply about them. And, we hope that we find a way through it. I wish I can say all they have to do is just hold out, but unfortunately it doesn’t seem like the leaderships of the European and the United States Care too much about that. They think that somehow shutting off some money will solve all the problems. So, we are just going to find another way.  And, I believe one day we will get through them. Until then, let us do our part.