Cardano Founder Charles Hoskinson Pitches Midnight as a Privacy Layer for Bitcoin and XRP

Charles Hoskinson is pitching his latest venture, Midnight Protocol, as more than a sidechain for Cardano.

Instead, the Cardano founder is positioning the privacy-focused platform as a shared infrastructure layer that could extend programmable privacy to rival blockchain networks, including Bitcoin and the XRP Ledger.

Hoskinson Moves Beyond Cardano With a Cross-Chain Privacy Play

In a December 27 post on X, Hoskinson argued that Midnight’s zero-knowledge proof architecture could enhance the capabilities of competing ecosystems rather than displace them.

He said that integrating Midnight with the XRP Ledger would allow the network to challenge legacy banking systems by enabling private, compliant decentralized finance. He extended the argument to Bitcoin, saying Midnight offers programmable privacy features that Bitcoin currently lacks.

Hoskinson also framed Midnight as a catalyst for Cardano itself. He suggested that the protocol could help lift Cardano’s monthly active users and total value locked by broadening the ecosystem’s utility beyond its native chain.

“Midnight makes what it touches better. Adding Midnight to XRP DeFi is going to blow the legacy banks out of the water. Adding Midnight to Bitcoin gives the world Satoshi imagined possible. Adding Midnight to Cardano supercharges our DeFi ecosystem and will 10x the MAUs, Transactions, and TVL as we are first to market with private DeFi at scale,” he claimed.

Beyond interoperability, Hoskinson pointed to the scale of the opportunity in real-world asset tokenization. He said the estimated $10 trillion market for Real-World Assets would benefit significantly from Midnight’s privacy-preserving design.

In that context, he criticized traditional finance firms for continuing to partner with the Canton Network, a permissioned blockchain, arguing that partial solutions fall short of what institutional adoption requires.

“There are no half measures or half technologies. You need an end-to-end strategy, great partners, and great communities,” Hoskinson said.

This strategy marks a shift for Hoskinson, who has historically focused on building within the Cardano ecosystem.

By promoting Midnight as a privacy layer that enhances other Layer-1 blockchains, Hoskinson is seeking to access liquidity and user bases beyond Cardano’s existing network.

That pivot has coincided with growing speculative interest in Midnight’s native token, NIGHT.

Data from CoinGecko showed that the asset recently surpassed Bitcoin and Ethereum in search volume on the platform’s trending list.

However, the token has traded with high volatility since its launch earlier this month. According to BeInCrypto data, the token’s price has dropped by more than 80% to $0.08 as of press time.