BREAKING NEWS: Charles Shaved His Beard

Charles Hoskinson defended his work on Midnight as a contribution to Cardano during a wide-ranging AMA, arguing that projects connected to the network can bring users and activity to the broader ecosystem.

The discussion also covered his role in Cardano governance, criticism of the Cardano Foundation and the Binance hack. On Midnight’s development, Hoskinson set a 2028 market target for Nightstream and described progress on StarStream.

Midnight’s Place in the Cardano Ecosystem

Hoskinson’s argument begins with Cardano’s role as a platform: projects need to build products that attract users, and their success can create activity across the infrastructure they use.

He identified Midnight, RealFi and Pogan among the projects he is working on. In his view, their growth could bring users and investment to Cardano rather than take attention away from it.

The comments addressed criticism from parts of the community that his focus on Midnight means he is moving away from Cardano. NIGHT exists as a Cardano native asset, providing one connection between the two ecosystems. Hoskinson expects Midnight’s growth to bring more people into Cardano, although he acknowledged that future demand and market valuations are difficult to predict.

He also mentioned Iagon, Strike and Liqwid while questioning why the success of a project built on Cardano should be viewed as a threat to the network.

Asked whether Midnight could eventually exceed Cardano’s market capitalization, Hoskinson described it as possible without predicting when it might happen. He offered no target price for NIGHT or ADA.

He also rejected the suggestion that he had promised Cardano would overtake Bitcoin. His assessment of Cardano’s technological strengths, he explained, is separate from a guarantee about its future market value.

Who Leads Cardano?

Questions about ADA’s price led Hoskinson to address his influence over the ecosystem after the introduction of on-chain governance.

He emphasized that he does not control the Cardano Foundation, the network treasury or all participants responsible for consensus. Nor can he make decisions on behalf of every ADA holder.

Cardano’s governance involves different groups depending on the decision. Delegated representatives, stake pool operators and the Constitutional Committee have distinct responsibilities, while ADA holders can delegate their voting power.

Hoskinson described building products as his primary way to contribute. Some projects may succeed and others may fail, but he believes they can create reasons for people to use Cardano infrastructure.

He also pointed to work across the ecosystem, including independent node implementations, on-chain governance, the eUTXO transaction model and Leios. He did not provide a confirmed mainnet activation date for Leios.

A Call for Changes at the Cardano Foundation

Hoskinson renewed his criticism of the Cardano Foundation’s leadership and called for the community to have a role in selecting its board.

In his view, community participation in board selection could give ADA holders more influence over the organization’s leadership and objectives. He also revisited past disputes involving the Foundation and Swiss authorities, presenting those events as part of his argument for changes to its governance.

The Cardano founder argued that the Foundation could work more closely with projects connected to the ecosystem. He identified Reeve and Veridian as products that could potentially be explored alongside Midnight’s infrastructure.

His examples included bringing Reeve to Midnight and connecting Veridian with the Midnight Passport concept. He presented those as possibilities for collaboration, not as confirmed integrations.

Hoskinson’s questions about leadership and influence extended beyond Cardano. His account of cryptocurrency policy in Washington offered another perspective on how he has tried to advance the industry’s interests.

Trump, ADA and Washington

Hoskinson gave his account of discussions about a possible role in US cryptocurrency policy and efforts to meet President Donald Trump.

According to his account, plans for a meeting changed and he received conflicting explanations about why it did not take place. He stated that he had donated $1 million for a planned dinner, that the invitation was later withdrawn and that the donation was refunded.

He also recalled Trump’s public announcement about a proposed cryptocurrency reserve that mentioned ADA. Hoskinson maintained that he had not known about the announcement in advance and learned of it through messages afterward.

His criticism extended to the relationship between political access, donations and the cryptocurrency industry. He noted that he has spoken with representatives of multiple US administrations over the years while advocating for wider adoption and a regulatory framework for digital assets.

Cardano Security After the Binance Hack

The Binance security incident brought renewed attention to the design of crypto wallets and transaction authorization systems. Binance reported that approximately $6.34 billion in digital assets was affected when its hot wallets were compromised on October 29.

In its initial findings, Binance described an attack involving stolen employee credentials and exploitation of Ethereum’s EIP-7702 authorization mechanism. The exchange stated that it would absorb the financial impact.

Hoskinson discussed the absence of stolen ADA in the incident and attributed it to differences in Cardano’s wallet and transaction design.

Cardano uses the extended unspent transaction output model, or eUTXO. Transactions consume existing outputs and create new ones, while rules and scripts can specify the conditions under which an output may be spent.

The connection between that design and the outcome for ADA is Hoskinson’s assessment. Security also depends on how private keys are managed and how wallets, smart contracts and individual services are implemented.

[NEWSBREAK]

Nightstream, StarStream and Private Computing

Hoskinson set a goal for Nightstream to reach the market in 2028, arguing that the technology needs a delivery timeframe rather than an indefinite schedule.

The year was presented as a target, not a confirmed launch date. He did not provide a release month, a complete development timetable or all the conditions required for availability.

He also wants to accelerate work on StarStream and its integration into Midnight. After mentioning discussions with Sebastien about more intensive work on the project, Hoskinson suggested that StarStream could launch before Nightstream.

He described StarStream as a platform for realizing Nightframes, a concept he has previously associated with private, continuously operating AI agents designed to carry out tasks according to a user’s instructions. The proposed launch order remains his expectation; no confirmed StarStream release date or final list of features was provided.

The discussion extended to three technologies with different roles in private computing: zero-knowledge proofs, fully homomorphic encryption and multiparty computation.

A zero-knowledge proof can establish that a claim is true without revealing all the underlying information. Fully homomorphic encryption, or FHE, allows certain computations to be performed on encrypted data without first decrypting it. Multiparty computation, or MPC, allows participants to perform a joint calculation without necessarily disclosing their individual inputs to one another.

Hoskinson described the approaches as complementary. In his assessment, optimizations involving mathematics used for Nightstream could also prove useful for FHE.

Monument Bank’s Tokenized Deposits

Asked about Monument Bank, Hoskinson reported substantial progress in discussions about bringing its tokenized deposits to Midnight.

A tokenized deposit is a digital representation of a bank deposit on blockchain infrastructure. Midnight representatives have previously discussed an initial target of £250 million in Monument deposits.

Hoskinson also mentioned a separate concept for regulated transactions that he expects could be relevant to Monument. He did not explain how it would work or when it might become available.

The £250 million remains a previously announced target. Hoskinson did not confirm that the deposits had been tokenized or provide a date for customer access, leaving formal announcements to the Midnight Foundation.