Charles Hoskinson Predicts Privacy Chains as the Fourth Generation of Blockchain: Midnight and Zcash Lead the Charge

Charles Hoskinon, the founder of the Input Output Global (IOG) and the architect of the Cardano, has made a forecast of having privacy-oriented blockchains as the fourth generation blockchain technology. This perspective was expressed by Hoskinson, entering the crypto industry in 2010, in the context of the increased popularity of privacy projects such as Zcash (ZEC) and a new sidechain called Midnight based on Cardano. His opinion reflects the current market frenzy with ZEC soaring up 150 percent in 2025, according to CoinMarketCap sliding among the best annual performances of this company since 2017.

Midnight: The Privacy Sidechain by Cardano Comes into Shape

The unveiling of Midnight in October 2023 is aimed at providing a novel privacy standard in blockchain infrastructure. The project was created by IOG and is said to be the first fourth-generation blockchain, which incorporates confidentiality and regulatory compliance. Midnight uses Minotaur, a multi-resource consensus mechanism presented in the 2022 whitepaper by IOG, to be able to process transactions with a variety of different types of resources, such as proof-of-work and proof-of-stake.

Kachina Virtual Machine (KVM) of the chain is a guarantee that it complies with GDPR, providing privacy to the users and enabling auditing of the enterprises. This equilibrium has attracted institutional participants interested in having a safe, compliant adoption of blockchain. In the near future, Eran Barak, the CEO of Midnight, will update the Cardano Summit 2025 in Dubai later this month, likely disclosing strategic alliances and technical achievements.

Market Effect: Zcash and Midnight Gain Momentum

The renewed interest in the coins of privacy is against a background of a changing global regulatory world. In June and July 2025 respectively, the U.S. Clarity Act and Genius Act have started to develop more definitive guidelines on digital assets and stablecoins. Analysts think that such laws may hasten the use of privacy compliant chains such as Midnight by the enterprises.

In the meantime, Zcash (ZEC) has seen a parabolic surge, which indicates is a symptom of the resurgence of privacy assets more generally. Its zero-knowledge proof system (zk-SNARKs) allows the system to make private and verifiable transactions, a system that Midnight is based on to make transactions by the hybrid enterprise. The fact that Kraken announced in November 2025 that it would list the token of Midnight, assuming that such an event occurs, reveals the optimism that the market has with privacy-focused solutions.

Growing Ecosystem at Cardano and its DeFi

Hoskinson still continues to build the ecosystem of Cardano. In March, the network presented a roadmap to 2025, which proposed the integration of Bitcoin as a smart contract layer, allowing cross-chain DeFi. According to DefiLlama, platforms such as Fluid Tokens and Indigo Protocol currently have more than 500 million total value locked (TVL).

According to CoinGecko, a market capitalization of 30 billion dollars, as of October 2025, allowed Cardano to achieve a growth of 40 percent per annum as the DeFi space begins to take off and the mass release of Midnight plans its launch. Analysts indicate that such an aggregate of innovation, alignment with regulations and enterprise preparedness could make Cardano and Midnight the center of the next wave of blockchain revolution.