Input Output Global (IOG), the company behind Cardano, is launching the new Midnight blockchain. It is presented as a confidential over-net for building dApps. DUST, the platform’s internal token, will support the development of the system.
The CEO of Input Output Global, Charles Hoskinson, has been thinking about a network that will protect the users’ personal data for quite some time. Go figure! After all, the crypto community needs a blockchain that will support their basic rights and freedoms, and, first of all, the right to keep their trades secret from tax authorities and competitors.
At the end of last week, IOG developers announced that they were ready to deploy a test version of a confidential blockchain. It was called Midnight, hinting at the impossibility of seeing any transmitted information, except for what users themselves want to disclose. Midnight's mission is to enable developers to quickly build and launch DApps using multiple programming languages for companies that fear leaks or censorship.
The blockchain will use a zero-knowledge algorithm and operate as a private sidechain of the Cardano blockchain, inheriting its security and decentralization, while greatly expanding the anonymity for individuals and businesses alike. People will be able to exchange sensitive financial information directly through Midnight. To do this, one will only need to comply with the platform’s regulatory requirements and not disclose any other personal data.
In simple terms, the sidechain will make it possible to conduct transactions using smart contracts in the same way as it is done on the anonymous cryptocurrencies blockchains.
Midnight was presented by Hoskinson personally during the ScotFest event held at the University of Edinburgh specifically for developers. The problems and threats imposed by regulators around the world were discussed there.
Charles delivered a keynote address in which he stated:
We need systems that give people the freedom to work and interact while keeping personal data anonymous. When we do not have these rights, our ability to communicate with the rest of the world is limited and overseen by forces beyond our control. These are the values that we hold dear at IOG, and therefore we are working to create a new solution that supports these ideas. We can empower users to decide how their personal data is used and how open their transactions are.
That would have been a very bold statement if Hoskinson hadn't quickly added that Midnight "will be balancing between maintaining confidentiality and allowing regulators and auditors to enter the system after obtaining special permission."
But the last words of Cardano's main developer and part-time crypto-libertarian drowned in applause.
Let's see if the "anonymous" Midnight will save the ADA rate. And how it will correlate with the price of DUST (sidechain utility token).
And judging by the regulators’ pressure on anonymous cryptocurrencies like Zcash and Monero, the anonymous sidechain will also not be able to go unnoticed for a long time.
