Cardano Founder Shares Why 2026 Could Be a Breakout Year for ADA

Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson has outlined why 2026 could be a turning point for the blockchain. He pointed to projects such as Midnight and Leios as projects that could make 2026 a pivotal year for Cardano.

In a livestream shared by the Angry Crypto Show, he stated that Cardano’s Layer-2 privacy sidechain, Midnight, will “kill it,” signalling his expectation for widespread adoption of the project.

Midnight and NIGHT Token to Begin Rollout

Midnight, a privacy-focused sidechain that was introduced back in 2023, is gearing up for a wider rollout. The NIGHT token is due to be distributed on December 8th, with exchange listings expected on the same date. 

Midnight supports confidentiality and privacy features specifically designed for developers and enterprises.  Once trading begins, the team plans to launch a federated mainnet in the first quarter of 2026. After that, an incentivized testnet will be deployed to allow stake pool operators (SPOs) to test the network. The full mainnet deployment is scheduled for later next year.

Leios Scalability Upgrade Set for 2026

Hoskinson pointed to the Leios upgrade as one of the most significant technical milestones that Cardano will be celebrating next year. Leios is a long-anticipated scalability feature that will give the network a big speed boost in transaction processing.

Development on Leios is now following a 24/7 global schedule, enabling around-the-clock progress. Teams from different time zones are working together to meet the planned release timeline. 

At the time of the 24/7 development structure launch, Hoskinson called Leios the most urgent upgrade for Cardano. Leios is intended to improve performance on both the main Cardano chain and the Midnight sidechain, creating a more efficient environment for smart contracts and DeFi projects.

DeFi Growth and Stablecoin Talks with Ripple

Furthermore, Hoskinson also said that both Cardano and Midnight will see major growth in DeFi activity by 2026. The team is working to bring a tier-1 stablecoin to the network to strengthen DeFi activity.

Talks are ongoing with Ripple to bring RLUSD to Cardano. Reports suggest the discussions are progressing, though no launch date has been confirmed.

Meanwhile, crypto analyst Ali Martinez spotted something interesting on the price charts with a TD Sequential buy signal on ADA’s 3-day chart, which might just be the start of a reversal of the downward trend. At the time of writing, ADA is trading at $0.3789.