Angry Crypto Show: Cardano, Bitcoin DeFi and Midnight

Alexander Nadem, creator of Angry Crypto Show and a Cardano Ambassador based in Canada, brought together market activity, network upgrades and adoption news in his latest review. Hoskinson’s discussions with government and industry representatives, alongside private smart contract deployment on Midnight mainnet, featured among his highlights.

Cardano Markets and Protocol Development

Figures cited from CoinGecko put Cardano’s 24-hour trading volume above $650 million. A separate CoinMarketCap snapshot placed it 18th among the platform’s most-viewed cryptocurrencies.

The derivatives discussion focused on Polymarket and Kalshi. Nadem reported more than $1 million in daily volume for ADA perpetual contracts on Polymarket and close to $1 million on Kalshi. These contracts allow traders to take long or short positions without a fixed expiration date. He interpreted their performance relative to other cryptocurrencies as evidence of retail interest, while acknowledging the platforms’ comparatively modest overall volumes.

Robinhood’s planned U.S. offering adds another route to that market. Cardano is among eight cryptocurrencies selected for perpetual futures available to eligible American customers. The company’s announcement specifies up to 3x leverage for Cardano contracts, with access expected in the coming months.

Other figures presented in the video included a record Cardano stablecoin market capitalization of approximately $67.47 million. Blockworks data placed the network fifth in tracked market mindshare, with a 3.47% share. Both reflect the reporting snapshots used in the review.

Protocol development covered Peras, designed to improve transaction finality, and Leios, which aims to increase transaction processing capacity. The updates included Peras protocol parameters in the ledger implementation and automated performance testing with the Leios prototype.

A standalone transaction validation benchmark has also been distributed to stake pool operators. Running it on their own hardware allows operators to contribute measurements from the configurations supporting the network.

For enterprise adoption, the review highlighted Bitso’s coverage of Petrobras. The Brazilian energy company uses Cardano to support verifiable information associated with sustainable aviation fuel and diesel products, extending blockchain applications into fuel traceability.

Hoskinson at the UN and Bitcoin DeFi

Hoskinson’s public appearances connected the review’s institutional and technology themes. Nadem recalled his participation in Washington discussions about money, governance and law before examining selected remarks from an event at United Nations headquarters in New York.

Hoskinson reflected on 15 years in an industry he described as having expanded to approximately 550 million people. He emphasized its international reach, arguing that the fastest adoption is occurring outside the United States.

His remarks addressed academic research and open standards for connecting public and private ledgers. Auditability, verifiable information and global access formed part of that argument, alongside the need for institutions to adapt to technologies developing faster than established regulatory systems.

Privacy and digital identity were linked to his work on Midnight. Hoskinson argued that blockchain applications should accommodate regulatory requirements while protecting personal information and basic freedoms, including privacy in purchases, relationships and movement.

The selected clips also included criticism of former SEC Chair Gary Gensler, which drew applause. Hoskinson described the industry’s core product as structures of trust built through collective work.

Bitcoin DeFi introduced a separate question about capital. Nadem relayed Hoskinson’s statement that Pogun had attracted hundreds of millions of dollars in soft commitments before launching. He recalled seeing a figure exceeding $600 million.

Pogun is developing infrastructure to connect Bitcoin liquidity with financial applications on Cardano. Its proposed components include a credit market, yield strategies and a Bitcoin bridge, giving holders routes to deploy capital through DeFi products.

Nadem argued that capturing even a small share of the Bitcoin market could have a substantial impact. The video’s title connects that prospect with a sharp increase in Cardano’s total value locked, or TVL, which measures assets deposited in DeFi protocols. His outlook rests on the soft commitments becoming capital deployed through those products.

Midnight Contracts, AI Agents and Governance

Midnight’s permissionless deployment of private smart contracts gives developers a direct route to publish on the production network. Applications can verify facts while protecting underlying information, with developers defining what remains confidential and what must be disclosed or proven.

Nadem expects broader deployment access to encourage development and transaction activity. He identified composability, which enables contracts to interact, as the next capability supporting more complex DeFi applications and simpler user experiences. Private contracts are available on mainnet, while additional interaction features are planned for v9.

Midnight City supplied another development snapshot. The digital city simulation had more than 3,700 AI agents queued to enter and over 900 currently online, according to the figures presented.

CoinMarketCap data shown in the review placed NIGHT 17th among the most-viewed cryptocurrencies. Its issuance as a Cardano native asset informed Nadem’s view that Midnight’s growth could benefit the wider ecosystem.

The broader roundup included Absa’s crypto custody services, a reported total exceeding $1 billion in tokenized stocks and exchange-traded funds on BNB Chain, and indications that the SEC would introduce further crypto regulatory proposals.

Nadem also reported that delegation to his Cardano DRep had surpassed eight million ADA. DReps vote on governance actions on behalf of delegators, including treasury withdrawals and network parameter changes. He identified real-world adoption, improved user experience and sustainable ecosystem growth as the priorities guiding that mandate.