Charles Hoskinson defended Midnight, stressing it was not designed to undermine or harm Cardano. The controversy began after Cardano stake pool operator and DRep Dave posted that he was “starting to really hate Midnight,” criticizing how the project handles Cardano and claiming a “one-way bridge” would lock assets on Midnight and drain liquidity from Cardano.
Hoskinson called that narrative misleading and argued Midnight—one of Cardano’s largest associated projects and expected to add “billions of dollars in value” to the network—deserves recognition and respect. He demanded an apology from Dave and warned that attitudes like this, if allowed to persist, would harm Cardano, invoking past incidents that damaged community cohesion.
A self-described Midnight whale said he would sell his holdings and pause plans to accumulate millions of ADA if Hoskinson continued to pressure community figures. Hoskinson replied that he was not bullying anyone but was calling for accountability, something the community has long expected of him, and reiterated his stark warning that Cardano must “grow up or die.”
Hoskinson has repeatedly stated Midnight neither harms nor competes with Cardano; rather, he describes Midnight as a partner chain that helps meet growing privacy needs within the broader crypto ecosystem.
