Hoskinson's Midnight vs Zcash: Which Privacy Coin Will Reign Supreme

Charles Hoskinson, founder of Cardano, made a bold claim on September 28, 2026, stating that his new privacy-focused network, Midnight, will be bigger than Zcash. However, when comparing their market caps, NIGHT, the native token of Midnight, is worth a fraction of ZEC's $26 billion, with a current value of around $443 million.

Hoskinson did not specify what he meant by 'bigger', whether it's in terms of price, market value, or user adoption. Cardano itself is trading about 92% below its all-time high, while Zcash ranks among the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization.

Zcash offers enhanced privacy through its shielding feature, which obscures transaction details and keeps sender, receiver, and transaction amount concealed. This has enabled Zcash to gain an edge over rivals like Monero in the privacy coin race this year. In contrast, Midnight is still in its early stages with limited validator participation.

Regulatory scrutiny could be a challenge for both coins. After hackers stole $387.5 million from Bitget and transferred some funds into Zcash's shielded pools, regulators may take action against shielded pools. Additionally, concerns have been raised about Midnight's validators transitioning to closed-source code and the lack of binding lock-ups on founding entities' NIGHT supply.