Crypto Crow Asks Who Is Building Enterprise Partnerships for Cardano and Midnight

During a wide-ranging discussion covering the crypto market, AI, Cardano governance and interoperability, longtime Cardano creator and DRep Jason Appleton, known as Crypto Crow, raised a more operational question for the ecosystem: who is responsible for pursuing partnerships and commercial relationships for Cardano and Midnight?

Appleton said he sees potential use cases involving identity, verification and security, particularly for major companies, but questioned who is actively approaching those organizations and connecting their needs with technology available across the Cardano and Midnight ecosystems.

Appleton Points to Identity, Verification and Security

Appleton raised the issue while discussing how technological infrastructure becomes useful outside the crypto industry.

He said he had recently been asking people who works on partnerships and relationship agreements for Cardano and Midnight, particularly in areas involving identity and verification.

His focus was not on building another protocol. Instead, he questioned who takes the technology already being developed and presents relevant use cases to companies that may be able to use it.

Appleton also said he would personally like to help build some of those relationships, arguing that there are many potential applications involving identity verification and security.

His comments were part of a much broader discussion rather than the sole subject of the video. The conversation also covered market conditions, AI, Cardano governance, interoperability and the changing relationship between major blockchain ecosystems.

Cardano Foundation’s Role Enters the Discussion

Appleton said he had previously been under the impression that establishing these types of relationships was part of the Cardano Foundation’s role.

He also described asking others who was responsible for pursuing such opportunities. According to Appleton, the response he received was that much of the ecosystem is focused on building infrastructure and frameworks that others can use, rather than having a clearly identifiable group selling those capabilities directly.

Appleton was openly critical of the Cardano Foundation during this part of the discussion. He said he sees announcements, events and activity around the organization, but personally does not see enough resulting partnerships or commercial outcomes.

Those comments reflect Appleton’s assessment of the Foundation and the wider ecosystem. They do not establish that the Cardano Foundation has no business development activity or enterprise relationships.

His broader question was less about one organization and more about responsibility: if a company could benefit from Cardano or Midnight technology, who identifies that opportunity, approaches the company and works to establish the relationship?

Appleton also said he would like to be involved in that process himself, describing the opportunity to connect companies with Cardano and Midnight as something he would be interested in pursuing.

Interoperability Changes the Competitive Argument

The partnership discussion also connected with another theme Appleton raised during the video: reducing tribalism between blockchain ecosystems.

He said Cardano, Solana, Ethereum and other major networks are unlikely to disappear simply because another blockchain has better technology in a particular area. Instead of treating crypto as a zero-sum competition, he argued that networks need to find ways to benefit from each other.

Appleton pointed to interoperability as one of the characteristics that originally attracted him to Cardano and said the combination of Cardano and Midnight could provide capabilities useful beyond the Cardano ecosystem itself.

He also praised Solana’s ability to market itself and turn partnerships into visible narratives. While remaining critical of parts of Solana’s technology and ecosystem, Appleton described its marketing performance as highly effective and said Cardano could learn from its ability to build visibility around partnerships.

His position during the discussion marked a deliberate move away from chain tribalism. Appleton said he needs to stop attacking Solana and Ethereum and argued that cooperation could make blockchain technology easier for companies to adopt.

That leaves his enterprise question in a narrower and more practical form: who is responsible for building those relationships, approaching companies with relevant use cases and turning Cardano and Midnight’s technical capabilities into real-world adoption?