Cardano Founder Meets with Former Ripple Exec Jed McCaleb, Is Something Coming

Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson spotlights his latest engagement with Ripple co-founder and Stellar creator Jed McCaleb, sparking speculation about a potential partnership. 

Hoskinson revealed the development yesterday on X, indicating that he had a positive meeting with McCaleb, a prominent crypto stakeholder known for his involvement in the Ripple and Stellar projects. Notably, McCaleb reacted by confirming that the meeting took place.  

Potential Partnership 

Although both crypto execs did not provide specific details, the comment hints at a potential partnership between Cardano and Stellar. 

Hoskinson has been interacting with prominent figures within the crypto industry, particularly those associated with Ripple. This engagement started after Hoskinson apologized to the XRP community last week, ending their multi-year rift. 

After apologizing, Hoskinson hinted at potential partnerships that involve integrating Cardano’s Midnight solution within the XRP ecosystem and participating in Ripple’s stablecoin project. 

Following this comment, he disclosed his engagement with Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse and expressed optimism about a potential collaboration. 

Hoskinson also met with Ripple’s CTO, David Schwartz, a few days later. He revealed that they had a technical conversation about XRP and Midnight, suggesting that a partnership between Ripple and Cardano could be on the horizon. 

Now, the Cardano founder has confirmed he also had a meeting with McCaleb, a move that could see Cardano and Stellar partner on an initiative. Amid these meetings, prominent XRP community figure XRP DROPZ suggested that the crypto stakeholders are preparing for a major update. 

🇺🇸👑 CHARLES HOSKINSON TALKS TO BRAD GARLINGHOUSE, DAVID SCHWARTZ, AND NOW JED MCCALEB ➡️ #XRP #XLM #ADA

➡️ THEY ARE GETTING READY…BUCKLE UP! @IOHK_Charles @bgarlinghouse @JoelKatz @JedMcCaleb https://t.co/F5YGlDlh6v pic.twitter.com/q4rsxgYa1H

— XRP DROPZ (@DROPZXRP) November 19, 2024

McCaleb Involvement in Ripple and Stellar 

Recall that McCaleb, who was one of the founders and CTO of Ripple, left the company in 2013 following a disagreement with other founders. 

A year later, he, alongside Patrick Collison and Joyce Kim, created the Stellar Development Foundation (SDF), which focuses on facilitating cross-border payment solutions similar to Ripple.  

Despite not providing details, Hoskinson is committed to integrating Midnight with top crypto ecosystems, such as XRP and possibly Stellar. 

Midnight is Cardano’s privacy-focused sidechain, which was unveiled at the ScotFest 2022 summit. The sidechain aims to address key challenges within the crypto industry, particularly around compliance and privacy. 

Interestingly, Midnight leverages advanced technologies like zero-knowledge proofs (zk-SNARKs) to facilitate private smart contracts and confidential transactions while complying with regulatory requirements. It is currently in beta testing, with the mainnet launch expected to follow suit afterward.