Cardano (ADA) creator Charles Hoskinson says that Input Output Global (IOG) is gearing up to launch a new altcoin and blockchain designed to protect a user’s privacy.
Presenting as a keynote speaker in this year’s ScotFest event, Hoskinson says the Cardano developer is working on Midnight, which he notes was born out of the need to create a coin “with privacy at its core.”
According to a slide shared by Hoskinson on stage, Midnight is a data protection-focused blockchain that aims to safeguard sensitive commercial and personal data. The blockchain’s mission is to “create a principled system to give people fundamental freedoms of association, commerce and expression.” Midnight is being designed to give users the autonomy and control over the handling of their data.
In addition to providing privacy for users, Midnight is also being built with smart contract capabilties that will enable developers to “quickly build and deploy confidentiality-focused DApps (decentralized applications) using many programming languages.”
Says Hoskinson,
“One of the reasons why a lot of people sign up for cryptocurrencies is they mistakenly believe that cryptocurrencies have this capability. They mistakenly believe that cryptocurrencies will give them privacy, and freedom of expression and association and commerce.”
Charles Hoskinson also says that they plan to integrate Midnight to Cardano and reward stakepool operators with a new cryptocurrency.
“We’re taking that Midnight virtual machine and we’re going to launch it as a sidechain of Cardano… What’s really interesting about the way sidechains on Cardano work is that it’s a partnership. It’s magical in that respect.
So [Midnight] is a new blockchain. What does it need? It needs decentralization. It needs security. It needs infrastructure. It needs liquidity. It needs an ecosystem. Every new blockchain needs [those]. Cardano actually has [them]… It would be real cool if Cardano could…
