Hoskinson Says Midnight Will Be Bigger Than Zcash. Cardano Is Still 92% Below Its High. Which Privacy Trade Wins?
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On September 28, 2026, Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson made a bold statement on X, declaring that “Midnight will be bigger than Zcash.” This remark ignited a debate between his new privacy-focused network, Midnight, and Zcash (CRYPTO: ZEC), currently the leading privacy coin in the cryptocurrency space. However, Hoskinson did not specify a timeline or clarify whether he meant price, market value, or user adoption.
As it stands, Cardano (CRYPTO: ADA), the blockchain platform Hoskinson created, is trading about 92% below its all-time high. In contrast, Zcash ranks among the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization. So which privacy coin—Midnight or Zcash—has the better prospects?
Midnight’s NIGHT Token Is Worth a Fraction of Zcash
Midnight operates as a distinct blockchain developed by Hoskinson’s team, with its own native token, NIGHT (CRYPTO: NIGHT). The Midnight platform lets applications keep specific data confidential while still proving its validity. Currently, a group of approved validators oversees Midnight as the team prepares to open the network to broader participation.
The market-cap difference between NIGHT and Zcash is substantial. When Hoskinson made his claim, NIGHT had a market cap of about $443 million, while Zcash’s market cap stood at around $26 billion. This means NIGHT would need to increase nearly 59 times in value to catch up.
Notably, NIGHT and ZEC showed a close correlation over the 20 days before his claim, suggesting that traders still view NIGHT as a smaller counterpart to Zcash.
It’s also worth noting that owning Cardano (ADA) doesn’t give investors any direct stake in NIGHT, as they are separate tokens. However, ADA holders who delegate to stake pools that validate for Midnight may earn some NIGHT tokens as rewards.
Zcash Outpaces Cardano on Size, Momentum and Distance From Its High
As of October 1, Zcash boasts a market capitalization of about $24 billion, trading at approximately $1,402, which is roughly 2.5 times higher than Cardano’s $9.3 billion market cap at a price of $0.25. Over the past month, Zcash has surged about 75%, while Cardano has gained a more modest 26%, making Zcash one of the standout performers in 2026.
Zcash offers enhanced privacy through its shielding feature, which obscures transaction details by moving coins into an encrypted pool, keeping the sender, receiver, and transaction amount concealed. This privacy capability has enabled Zcash to gain an edge over rivals like Monero in the privacy coin race this year.
Compared with its highs, Zcash is trading about 56% below its record price of $3,192. In contrast, Cardano is down about 92% from its peak of $3.09 achieved in September 2021. It’s essential to remember that Zcash set its record shortly after launch in October 2016, with only a small portion of the total supply available at that time, so the gap may exaggerate its fall relative to current conditions.
Hacked Bitget Funds and Supply Questions Hang Over Zcash and Midnight
However, Zcash’s privacy features can create vulnerabilities. For example, after hackers stole $387.5 million from Bitget on September 24, they transferred 2,746 ZEC, valued at about $3.9 million, into Zcash’s shielded pools by September 30, making the funds harder to trace. Situations like this often attract regulatory scrutiny towards privacy coins, and Zcash has already shown it can drop sharply in a day.
Midnight also faces its own challenges around governance and control. Justin Bons, founder of Cyber Capital, raised concerns about Midnight’s validators transitioning to closed-source code and pointed out that two founding entities hold approximately 50% of the NIGHT supply without any binding lock-ups.
In response, Hoskinson dismissed these claims on September 29 as “FUD” (fear, uncertainty, and doubt), saying “Midnight is not closed source” and that founding entities do not control the supply.
Midnight vs Zcash: Which Privacy Trade Wins?
When it comes to which privacy coin stands out, Zcash currently has the advantage. It is a fully operational privacy coin with a market value significantly higher than NIGHT and 2.5 times greater than Cardano. Meanwhile, Midnight is still in its early stages with limited validator participation and no direct ownership pathway for ADA holders to acquire NIGHT tokens.
That said, the situation could evolve in two key ways. If Midnight opens its validator system, releases transparent code, and locks the founding entities’ NIGHT supply, Hoskinson’s assertion could carry more weight. Conversely, if regulators take action against shielded pools after the Bitget incident, Zcash’s lead could diminish quickly.
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Sam Daodu is a crypto analyst and the editor of 24/7 Wall St.'s Crypto Desk, where he covers Bitcoin, XRP, Ethereum, Solana and the altcoins investors search for most. His work focuses on price levels, spot ETF flows, on-chain data and the regulatory decisions that move crypto markets, written so a first-time buyer and a seasoned trader can both use it.
Sam has written about crypto professionally since 2019 and has published more than 2,000 articles. Before joining 24/7 Wall St., he wrote for crypto media outlets and Web3 companies and ghostwrote for crypto founders and token launches. His analysis is syndicated on Yahoo Finance, MSN and AOL and has been cited by other crypto news sites. He also founded MacLabs Marketing, a content and personal branding agency for crypto founders and executives.
When he isn't reading charts, Sam is usually at the gym or watching One Piece, a series he maintains has better tokenomics than most altcoins.
