Charles Hoskinson, the founder of Cardano, and David Schwartz, the Chief Technology Officer of Ripple, have revealed details about a possible collaboration between their respective blockchain platforms. The partnership aims to integrate Cardano’s advanced decentralized finance (DeFi) capabilities with Ripple’s extensive liquidity network, potentially bridging two of the most prominent ecosystems in the industry.
Potential Cardano and Ripple partnership details
During the OR On Saturday evening, Hoskinson was asked about the level of cooperation between Cardano and XRP. He highlighted the mutual benefits such a partnership could provide, saying that Cardano could “add great DeFi components to XRP,” while XRP could make a significant liquidity contribution, a “great stable currency low” and bridges to the Cardano ecosystem.
Hoskinson also mentioned the potential of integrating Cardano’s privacy-focused sidechain, Midnightwith XRP, stating: “It would be super cool to see if there’s a way to make Midnight work with XRP.”
He revealed ongoing communication with David Schwartz, noting that their teams are in talks and that he will meet with Schwartz. “So we’re meeting with David Schwarz here soon. I texted him back and forth, his people are talking to my people. I sent him some of our papers, as well as the code for midnight, and we’ll see,” Hoskinson noted.
Confirming the meeting, Hoskinson posted on X on Monday, November 18: “It was great talking to David Schwartz about Midnight and XRP. Wonderful technical conversation.” David Schwartz responded positive and said: “It was a pleasure talking to you. Midnight sounds extremely interesting.”
Midnight is Cardano’s upcoming sidechain, designed to improve data protection and privacy through advanced cryptographic techniques, including zero-knowledge proofs. Midnight works with the main Cardano blockchain and aims to provide greater confidentiality for transactions and communications, making it suitable for applications that require strict data protection, such as secure messaging and private transactions.
The potential integration of Midnight’s privacy features with XRP could bring significant benefits to both platforms. For Cardano, tapping into XRP’s liquidity and stablecoin capabilities could strengthen its DeFi ecosystem. Conversely, Ripple could leverage Cardano’s advances in privacy to improve data protection on the XRP Ledger.
The crypto community has shown great interest in the possible collaboration. Pro-XRP advocate Jeremy Hogan humorously commented on the complexity of zero-knowledge proofs: “I got lost when the whitepaper talked about ‘zero-knowledge proofs’ so I asked ChatGPT and it just said ‘Ask to David Schwartz.’”
David Schwartz offered an accessible explanation, comparing zero-knowledge proofs to a scenario in which someone proves that they can unlock a lock without revealing which lock it is. He emphasized that while traditional proofs require interaction, the ‘N’ in ‘Zk-SNARK’ stands for non-interactive, making them more practical for blockchain applications.
“Imagine that you know the solution to a maze. Imagine you want to prove to me that you know the solution to the maze, but you don’t want to reveal the actual solution to me,” Schwartz explained the mechanism of zk-SNARKs.
At the time of writing, ADA was trading at $0.74.
Featured image from YouTube, chart from TradingView.com