Charles Hoskinson Says LayerZero is Coming to Cardano

Charles Hoskinson, the founder of Cardano and the CEO of IOG, has confirmed a major collaboration to bring LayerZero to the ADA ecosystem.

Hoskinson announced this during a keynote at the ongoing Consensus Hong Kong 2026 today, Thursday. The move further expands the ecosystem’s appeal with strategic partnerships with institution-focused protocols.

Key Points

• Charles Hoskinson, the founder of Cardano and the CEO of IOG, has confirmed a major collaboration to bring LayerZero to the ADA ecosystem.
• Hoskinson announced this during a keynote at the Consensus Hong Kong 2026 on Thursday.
• LayerZero is an institution-grade protocol that provides cross-chain interoperability across blockchains.
• Hoskinson disclosed that USDCx would launch on Cardano by the end of February.
• The Cardano founder also disclosed that Midnight will launch by the end of March as a partner chain to the network.

LayerZero Coming to Cardano

Hoskinson disclosed that after close negotiations, he can confirm that LayerZero is coming to Cardano and the broader ADA ecosystem. 

For the uninitiated, LayerZero is an institution-grade protocol that provides cross-chain interoperability across blockchains. It recently received institutional backing from Citadel Securities and Ark Invest following the debut of its Zero network.

Notably, the collaboration underscores Cardano’s push to scale its cross-chain interoperability features. Additionally, it builds on the network’s push to position itself in key ramifications for institutional adoption.

Interestingly, Hoskinson has previously teased partnerships with several blockchains, including the XRP Ledger and Solana. The integration of LayerZero makes this easier, allowing Cardano users to share data and move assets across multiple chains without reliance on centralized bridges.

USDCx and Midnight Coming Too

Further, Hoskinson disclosed that USDCx would launch on Cardano by the end of February. He had earlier announced that the privacy-focused version of the USDC stablecoin issued by Circle will be integrated into Cardano.

On Thursday, he suggested that USDCx was better than the real thing because it offers privacy, immutability, and irrevocability. The move would enhance liquidity on Cardano, allowing users to move assets to and from centralized exchanges like Coinbase and Binance. It is also instantly convertible to the USDC stablecoin.

The Cardano founder also disclosed that Midnight will launch by the end of March as the partner chain to the network. Alongside this, he announced the Midnight City Simulation, a public testnet interactive platform that would give users a sneak peek of the features available on the Midnight mainnet.

Midnight offers privacy and selective disclosure to users, a feature that Hoskinson teased would finally bring on-chain securities trading. The sidechain would operate in collaboration with several prominent firms, including Google and Telegram.