Ripple CTO Finally Reacts to Midnight as ‘New Cardano’ Enters XRP Conversation

Two weeks after its launch, Ripple CTO David Schwartz acknowledged Cardano’s Midnight in true Schwartz style. 

It all started with Cardano’s Charles Hoskinson pitching Midnight as a serious “next generation” privacy stack and, in the same breath, mentioning the XRP Ledger as an example of a network that is already operating at a real scale rather than just being a concept.

However, Schwartz simply accepted that Midnight exists, with a line that reads as ironic but functions as an acknowledgement anyway.

For those who missed it, Midnight is a privacy-first blockchain built on zero-knowledge proofs. The goal is not to hide everything but to separate what must be public from what should stay protected.

XRP and ADA utility questions return

The protocol, nicknamed the “new Cardano,” uses a public–private dual-state ledger approach to keep user, commercial and transaction data protected, while supporting situations where disclosure is required. It also uses a dual-component token design meant to reduce metadata leakage because, in crypto, it is often the metadata that reveals everything, even when the payload is hidden.

This is important because it highlights the same principles that XRP has relied on for years: utility, compliance and systems that can be used by real businesses. However, Midnight aims to achieve this without turning every user action into a public dossier.

Interestingly, this is where Mike Novogratz’s view comes in. He has recently been warning that XRP and Cardano could lose relevance if they cannot continue to demonstrate their usefulness in the real world. He argues that the market is shifting toward “business tokens” with quantifiable value and profitability, and away from narrative tokens.

So, yes, Schwartz’s line is small. But in this market, even a small acknowledgement counts as a win.