Fahmi Syed Details Midnight Passport Controls for AI Agents

Midnight Foundation President Fahmi Syed said AI agents should operate through separated permissions, private proofs and predefined limits. Speaking during “Interoperable Infrastructure: Privacy and the Agentic Economy” at the Wyoming Blockchain Symposium, he warned that placing payment cards, credentials, financial accounts and blockchain wallets behind one agent would create a concentrated security risk.

The proposed architecture combines Midnight Passport, zero-knowledge proofs and local key storage. It also complements the registration, coordination and payment infrastructure already being developed by Cardano agent projects such as Masumi.

One AI Agent Should Not Control Every Account

The panel began with opposing views on privacy. Global Settlement Network CEO Ryan Kirkley argued that many users prioritize access to financial services over confidentiality. Syed responded that privacy is not a luxury limited to developed markets, but a right and a choice that should remain available to every user.

That choice becomes more complex when software moves beyond recommendations and gains authority to purchase products, transfer funds or manage accounts. Giving one agent access to credit card data, identity credentials, personal information and multiple financial accounts creates significant risk without clearly defined parameters.

Syed connected that position to his experience in the hedge fund industry. He said that in 2016 he managed a financing book worth approximately $120 billion and worked on automating decisions involving cash, bonds, brokerage accounts and margin calls. Automation required translating financial decisions into precise rules rather than handing unrestricted control to one program.

The same principle can apply to autonomous agents. One agent could search for products and negotiate with a merchant, while another receives limited access to payment infrastructure.

An agent interacting with Amazon, for example, could prove that it is permitted to purchase a product without gaining access to every connected account or the user’s full identity. Payment could then pass to a separate agent operating under a predefined spending limit.

The structure separates product discovery, authorization and execution, preventing one autonomous system from controlling every stage of a transaction.

Midnight Passport Keeps Policies on the User’s Device

Midnight Passport was described as an interface connecting credentials, keys and behavioral policies with a user’s phone. It relies on a Trusted Execution Environment, the protected area of a device already used for biometrics, secure key storage and approval of sensitive operations.

Within that environment, users could define which accounts an agent may access, how much it can spend and under which conditions it can execute a transaction. Syed compared the arrangement with website cookie settings, except that the rules would not need to be configured again for every interaction. The agent would carry them as part of its verifiable authorization.

When an agent connects to a merchant or application, a zero-knowledge proof could confirm that it has permission to act without transferring the information behind that permission. The counterparty would receive confirmation that an action is authorized, while unrelated credentials, accounts and financial positions remain protected.

Midnight’s official Passport materials describe keys stored inside the phone’s protected execution environment, with other data encrypted on the user’s side. Passport is intended to support interactions across different wallets and networks rather than functioning only as a Midnight login system.

Centralized and decentralized infrastructure can operate together under this design. A user may purchase through a centralized retailer or access an institutional financial service while controlling identity and authorization through zero-knowledge proofs and selective disclosure.

The panel did not announce a release date for Passport’s complete multi-agent feature set or demonstrate the full permission relay in production.

Private Vaults Extend the Model Across Networks

The division of authority described for consumer agents also extends to institutional finance. Public blockchains can expose positions, margin calls and collateral movements, while private institutional chains create isolated systems that struggle to exchange data and liquidity.

Syed described Midnight as a network for protecting private data, rather than simply hiding financial transfers. A user or institution could represent assets from several networks inside a private Midnight vault, then prove ownership, available collateral or transaction authority without publishing the entire portfolio.

For asset managers, that protection extends beyond wallet balances. Publicly visible orders, collateral adjustments and margin calls can reveal the direction of a trade, expose a proprietary strategy or create opportunities for front-running.

A private vault could consolidate those positions without requiring every bank, fund or trading company to build another closed blockchain. The same permission structure used by consumer agents could determine which applications, counterparties or automated systems may access specific financial proofs.

Midnight’s design separates its public financial layer from its protected data layer. According to the network’s official token documentation, $NIGHT serves as the public network and governance asset, while DUST supplies shielded capacity for transactions and smart contract execution. Midnight also states that $NIGHT will operate on both Midnight and Cardano, with a bridge supporting movement between the networks.

That connection gives Passport direct relevance to Cardano. Masumi already uses Cardano for agent registration, escrow payments, audit trails and agent-to-agent coordination. Midnight Passport could add private authorization, restricted account access and permission proofs across different networks.

The resulting architecture assigns different responsibilities to each layer.

Cardano-based systems can support public agent registration, audit records and settlement, while Midnight protects the identities, financial data and authorization policies governing what those agents are permitted to do.