Hoskinson Breaks Down Cardano’s November Hack

Cardano’s November Hack Explained by Co-Founder Charles Hoskinson

Cardano co-founder Charles Hoskinson has used a series of recent public comments to address the backdrop of a reported November hack, while also tying his response to a broader push around Midnight Protocol, a privacy-focused network being developed within the Cardano ecosystem.

The discussion unfolded alongside a separate public exchange involving Hoskinson and the founder of Canton, Rooz, where Hoskinson criticized figures he associates with traditional finance. Hoskinson argued that members linked to Canton’s consortium had roles connected to the 2008 financial crisis. Rooz responded that he worked at Citadel and DRW at the time and said they did not scam retail investors.

Hoskinson did not accept that distinction, and alleged that the same circle is now behind “digital asset treasury” (DAT) companies promoting what he described as an “infinity money glitch” narrative in 2025.

Against that backdrop, Hoskinson has positioned Midnight as a key part of Cardano’s next phase, describing it as more than a sidechain and instead as cross-chain privacy infrastructure that could be used across ecosystems including Bitcoin and the XRP Ledger (XRPL).

In a Dec. 27 post on X, Hoskinson said that integrating Midnight with Cardano could significantly expand on-chain activity. “Adding Midnight to Cardano supercharges our DeFi ecosystem and will 10x the MAUs, Transactions, and TVL as we are first to market with private DeFi at scale,” he wrote, framing the opportunity around privacy-focused decentralized finance and the protocol’s programmability.

Hoskinson has also argued that Midnight aligns with Bitcoin’s original vision by enabling privacy functionality “at scale,” and said that bringing similar capabilities to XRP-focused DeFi could challenge legacy banking models.

In the same broader debate, Hoskinson defended Cardano’s historical technical contributions, saying the network introduced secure, non-custodial staking and was the first blockchain to use the EUTXO model with smart contracts.

Midnight’s token, NIGHT, went live in December, according to details cited from posts referenced in the source material. The project also previously announced a “Glacier Drop” in August 2025 spanning multiple ecosystems across seven blockchains, including XRP Ledger, Cardano, Solana, Bitcoin, and Ethereum.

Why it matters: the comments show how Cardano’s leadership is framing security, credibility, and competition at a time when privacy features remain contentious in crypto. While Hoskinson presents Midnight as a step-change in cross-chain privacy, selective privacy itself is not new—projects such as Zcash and PIVX have long offered users a choice between transparent and shielded transactions—making adoption, integration, and real-world usage key factors to watch.

Separately, Hoskinson said his X account will enter “silent mode” in 2026 and be managed by curators and AI, adding that “X rewards outrage.” He also criticized politically themed meme tokens, saying “Trump Coin” “should’ve never happened,” and indicated he plans to release a YouTube video in early 2026 with additional details related to decisions and disputes referenced in his posts.