Midnight Conversations: Ripple’s CTO and Charles Hoskinson Discuss Upcoming Project

• Hoskinson has previously rejected the possibility of a Ripple-Cardano collaboration on technical grounds.
• Midnight is a privacy-centric Cardano sidechain currently in its public testnet phase.
• Hoskison has also spoken with Ripple boss Brad Garlinghouse in recent weeks.

Charles Hoskinson appears to be easing tensions with Ripple, praising a productive conversation with the company’s tech lead, David Schwartz.

The two expressed delight in discussing the Cardano (ADA) founder’s upcoming passion project, Midnight.

A Partnership in the Works?

Crypto appears to be coming together following yet another ambiguous post to X that suggests a lessening divide between Ripple and Cardano—or at least its founder, Charles Hoskinson.

It would appear that Hoskinson has spoken to Ripple’s Chief Technology Officer (CTO), David Schwartz, a beloved and notable figure in the cryptocurrency and cryptography communities.

Seemingly, the pair indulged in a “wonderful technical discussion,” during which Hoskinson appeared to have spoken about his privacy-focused project, Midnight.

Following Hoskinson’s chat with Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse last week, the ever-eager crypto community is mulling whether or not this could be another hint that a Cardano team-up with Ripple is in the works.

Hoskinson recently addressed questions from the community about collaboration, expressing optimism about the potential benefits Midnight could provide.

What is Midnight?

Midnight is Hoskinson’s passion project that touts itself as a “new generation blockchain technology” centered around privacy preservation in decentralized applications (dApps).

As per the aptly named Nightpaper , the tech hopes to tackle privacy and regulatory hurdles in the blockchain world.

It uses some of the industry’s most popular and advanced cryptographic tools, such as zero-knowledge proofs (zk-SNARKs), to secure transactions and safeguard user data.

The Cardano sidechain launched its public test net at the beginning of October 2024, and the team is preparing for a full-scale launch.

Meanwhile, users and developers can begin experimenting with building apps on-chain.

A potential collaboration between Ripple and Midnight could bring regulatory-compliant, privacy-enabled smart contracts, and confidential transactions to Ripple or the XRPL ecosystem.