Cardano’s Midnight: A Bold Vision for Tokenizing Stocks on the Blockchain
Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson has unveiled an ambitious vision for Midnight, Cardano's privacy-centric sidechain, declaring it was specifically "built for stocks on the blockchain."
In a recent discussion with Midnight CEO Eran Barak on May 1st, Hoskinson stressed the critical need for complete privacy, robust programmability, and seamless interoperability to usher traditional equities into the blockchain era.
Midnight, a creation of Input Output Global (IOG), leverages the power of zero-knowledge (ZK) cryptography to enable confidential smart contracts. While initially conceived as a privacy-enhancing protocol, Midnight is now strategically positioned as a foundational infrastructure layer for the tokenization of real-world assets (RWAs), with a particular focus on equities.
“You need a private side, full programmability, RWA standards, and trade across all blockchains and legacy exchanges,” asserted Hoskinson, emphasizing the essential components required to integrate global stock markets onto the blockchain.
Privacy is paramount for institutional adoption, ensuring the confidentiality of sensitive financial data. Programmability unlocks the creation of sophisticated financial instruments as smart contracts. Interoperability bridges the gap between various blockchain networks and traditional financial platforms, enabling frictionless trading.
Hoskinson believes this infrastructure has the potential to tap into a $10 trillion market today, with aspirations to scale towards a staggering $100 trillion in the future.
Anchored by Hybrid Blockchain Technologies
To realize this grand vision, Midnight strategically integrates proven technological frameworks from various established networks. Hoskinson explained that the protocol incorporates consensus mechanisms inspired by Aptos, development tools from the Polkadot SDK, and numerous core features from Cardano itself.
Furthermore, the development team drew valuable insights from Zcash’s pioneering work in privacy, embedding zero-knowledge cryptography as a fundamental element of Midnight’s architecture. This unique combination empowers developers to build confidential smart contracts that prioritize both user privacy and adherence to legal and regulatory requirements.
Midnight CEO Eran Barak highlighted this approach as a direct response to growing concerns surrounding the sharing of personal data with artificial intelligence. Barak explained that the protocol is meticulously designed to allow AI to access private data without compromising ownership rights, offering a controlled and transparent framework for secure data interaction.
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With its focus on privacy, programmability, and interoperability, Cardano’s Midnight presents a compelling vision for the future of finance, potentially revolutionizing how traditional assets like stocks are traded and managed in the digital age.
Kosta Gushterov
Reporter at Coindoo
Kosta has been a part of the team since 2021 and has solidified his position with a thirst for knowledge, incredible dedication to his work and a “detective-like” mindset. He not only covers a wide range of trending topics, he also creates reviews, PR articles and educational content. His work has also been referenced by other news outlets.
