Midnight vs Zcash: Hoskinson's Privacy Coin Bet Challenges Cardano's Struggles

Charles Hoskinson, the founder of Cardano, recently stated that his new privacy-focused network, Midnight, will be bigger than Zcash. However, Cardano itself is trading around 92% below its all-time high, while Zcash has a market capitalization of around $24 billion. Midnight operates as a distinct blockchain with its own native token, NIGHT, but its market capitalization is only about $443 million, making it about 59 times smaller than Zcash.

Hoskinson's comment sparked a debate between Midnight and Zcash, with some arguing that Midnight's validators transitioning to closed-source code and the founding entities holding approximately 50% of the NIGHT supply without any binding lock-ups could create vulnerabilities. However, Hoskinson dismissed these claims as 'FUD' and stated that Midnight is not closed source and that founding entities do not control the supply.

Zcash, on the other hand, has a fully operational privacy coin with a market value significantly higher than NIGHT and 2.5 times greater than Cardano. It has also surged about 75% over the past month, making it one of the standout performers in 2026. However, Zcash's privacy features can create vulnerabilities, as seen in the recent Bitget hack where hackers transferred stolen funds into Zcash's shielded pools.