Cardano (ADA) founder and Ethereum co-founder Charles Hoskinson was a guest on episode 701 of “The Breakdown,” hosted by David Gokhshtein.
Hoskinson shared his journey through blockchain history, the vision of the Midnight project, user experience issues in the crypto sector, and his predictions for the future in detail.
Hoskinson began the interview by saying, “Midnight is everywhere,” and answered questions about the project’s positioning. When asked if Midnight was a “privacy coin, a cross-chain solution, or a simplicity-focused system,” he replied, “a combination of all of them.” Hoskinson stated that “sometimes it’s hard to explain because it does so much,” and that they are trying to simplify the project through weekly workshops and AI-powered summaries.
Hoskinson stated, “The vast majority of users entrust their funds to third-party platforms like Coinbase or Binance because they are afraid to manage them themselves.” He noted that a large portion of the 550 million cryptocurrency users are in Binance accounts, and expressed his belief that Midnight will be “the home of Web 2.5” and will integrate the institutional world into the blockchain. Highlighting the rise of hybrid models like Tether and Circle, Hoskinson argued that open standards (like Ethereum and Midnight) will prevail against federative systems.
At the heart of the future vision was a “revolution of agents.” On the Midnight City platform, each user will have an AI agent (copilot); these agents will automatically manage DeFi transactions, cross-chain transfers, and even complex trading strategies with self-custody. Hoskinson stated, “Users won’t fully understand DeFi no matter how simple you make it. That’s where agents come in.” He also explained that Midnight Passport will introduce AI verification and proof-of-human systems to protect against bots and deepfakes.
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Referring to his relationship with Cardano, Hoskinson said that Midnight has made a significant contribution to the Cardano ecosystem and increased Cardano’s visibility on social media. Responding to criticism, Hoskinson stated, “It’s ridiculous for some to say ‘Midnight doesn’t add value to Cardano.’ If successful, it will bring new partner chains and revenue streams to Cardano.”
Hoskinson, who conveyed a message of collaboration rather than competition with the Monero community, described Monero as “what Bitcoin should be” and stated that Midnight could offer liquidity and DeFi support to the Monero ecosystem with its privacy technologies. He also shared his views on topics such as integration with Filecoin for file storage, Bitcoin DeFi projects, and post-quantum cryptography.
Hoskinson also touched upon the threat of quantum computing, citing DARPA’s Quantum Benchmark Initiative project as an example. He stated that Bitcoin’s post-quantum transition would be difficult, and the lack of on-chain governance could create major problems. He argued that in Cardano, such transitions could be managed more easily thanks to governance.
*This is not investment advice.
