Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson has pushed back against criticism surrounding Midnight City, rejecting claims that the initiative does not contribute to ecosystem user adoption.
His response followed remarks from prominent Cardano content creator Big Pey, who questioned the project’s commercial relevance and value proposition.
Big Pey Questions Midnight City’s Impact on Adoption
In a recent post on X, Big Pey pointed to Midnight City as an example of wasteful spending within the Cardano ecosystem. According to him, the Cardano team invested millions of dollars into a project that would not directly attract new users or drive adoption.
He characterized the strategy as the “Cardano Way,” suggesting that the ecosystem often allocates significant resources to initiatives that fail to generate immediate commercial returns.
Hoskinson Loses Respect for Big Pey Over Recent Criticism
Hoskinson quickly dismissed the criticism, arguing that it reflected a fundamental misunderstanding of product development and consumer behavior.
The Cardano founder stated that he had “lost all respect” for Big Pey as an entrepreneur, adding that the criticism ignored how successful consumer products and adoption strategies work.
According to Hoskinson, Big Pey has no clue how consumer experiences evolve or how ecosystems onboard mainstream users.
Furthermore, Hoskinson predicted that Midnight City would eventually become one of the most important applications within the broader Midnight Network ecosystem. He challenged the critic to revisit the discussion in the future, stating:
“Save this tweet and come back in a year to apologize.”
I’ve just lost all respect for you as an entrepreneur. You clearly have no clue how adoption or consumer experiences work. Save this tweet and come back in a year to apologize. Midnight City is one of the most important applications on Midnight and will be one of the keys to…
— Charles Hoskinson (@IOHK_Charles) July 2, 2026
Midnight City Initiative
For context, Midnight City serves as an interactive and always-on showcase for the Midnight Network, the privacy-focused partner chain associated with Cardano.
The platform aims to make advanced privacy technologies easier to understand by transforming complex blockchain mechanics into a retro-futuristic, living 2D city. Midnight City operates through autonomous AI agents that continuously interact within the digital environment.
These agents generate large volumes of realistic activity, including transactions, economic behavior, and network interactions that closely resemble how consumers and businesses may eventually use blockchain applications in everyday scenarios.
Notably, Hoskinson views Midnight City as a foundational infrastructure designed to support future consumer adoption and enterprise onboarding. From his perspective, creating compelling user experiences and realistic environments represents a necessary step toward bringing mainstream users into blockchain ecosystems.
Midnight Continues to Gain Institutional Interest
While Hoskinson believes Midnight City could eventually attract more users to both Midnight and Cardano, the underlying Midnight blockchain has already begun securing notable partnerships.
Since launch, the network has attracted organizations including Monument Bank, Google, and AlphaTON Capital.
Moreover, Hoskinson recently revealed that discussions are underway with several major investment banks across the United States and Europe regarding potential integrations.
According to the Cardano founder, 2026 will serve as a beta year for Midnight as the team focuses on strengthening infrastructure and preparing the ecosystem for broader public adoption.
