Although Cardano has evolved into a global financial phenomenon in recent years, much still awaits to be unleashed, powered by its advancing blockchain technology. In a video shared on Sunday, Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson talked about the future of Cardano with regard to private ADA DeFi.
With recent developments in blockchain and its potential to shape financial services, the crypto entrepreneur disclosed how ADA is currently being used and what the future holds for the technology. As the founder of the blockchain, Hoskinson is in a better position to talk about the future of Cardano.
The Arrival of Private ADA DeFi and its Aim
Hoskinson’s discussion shared on the X platform (on August 16) revealed the arrival of private ADA DeFi, aiming to address weak points in the decentralized finance landscape. DeFi is a highly transparent space, with every on-chain transaction, position, and order visible to the world, designed to provide the foundation for decentralized, accessible, visible, and permissionless financial systems. However, this DeFi transparency comes with critical disadvantages, including a lack of confidence, a major concern that discourages institutions from fully participating in the landscape – keeping them watching from the sidelines.
In the video, Hoskinson discussed undergoing profound development within the Cardano blockchain, aiming to fix the lack of transaction privacy in the DeFi ecosystem – a systemic barrier to institutional participation in DeFi. According to the executive, privacy-preserving ADA DeFi is now available, offering confidential on-chain applications (including lending pools, order books, arbitrage, and several others). This lays the ground for next-gen DeFi products that are fully encrypted, running confidential applications on Cardano smart contracts without undermining trust and interoperability.
Dijkstra Upgrade and Midnight Approach
The executive said Cardano’s approach to privacy problem-handling is being powered by the Dijkstra upgrade, which is scheduled to be released in two major phases – the Ouroboros Linear Leios (to be completed by Q4 2026) and the Ouroboros Peras (to be activated in Q2 2027).
 
In March, Hoskinson unveiled a new fourth-generation privacy-dedicated chain, called Midnight Network, connected to the Cardano network, laying the groundwork for a new generation of DeFi utilities. Under this framework, Midnight powers private ADA DeFi, enabling interoperable tokens (including stablecoins) to move into various protocols without exposing transaction details.
