Cardano Founder Calls Minotaur the Key to Beating 51% Attacks

Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson has urged the blockchain industry to adopt stronger security measures after Monero suffered a significant 51% attack. He highlighted Cardano’s Midnight sidechain and its Minotaur consensus protocol as proof that networks can resist such threats.

Hoskinson explained that Minotaur combines Proof of Work (PoW) and Proof of Stake (PoS) into a multi-resource consensus model. This spreads control across different resource types, ensuring no single method can dominate the network. He stressed that this built-in balance makes it extremely difficult for attackers to seize power through one approach.

This is another reason we built minotaur for Midnight. Multi-resource consensus ensures checks and balances for the consensus providers using different resources from work to stake. Thus no one attack can take over the network https://t.co/NluXl1vxrP
— Charles Hoskinson (@IOHK_Charles) August 12, 2025

Qubic’s Mining Takeover on Monero

Earlier this month, blockchain project Qubic set out to control more than half of Monero’s mining power. They lured miners with a “pay-to-switch” incentive, offering higher payouts than traditional Monero pools. As a result, Qubic’s pool quickly reached over 3 GH/s, representing 52.7% of Monero’s total hash rate.

With this control, Qubic could reorganise the blockchain, orphan competing blocks, and dictate transaction history. Although Qubic claimed the takeover was a “stress test” and not malicious, it raised fears of double-spending and censorship.

Following the incident, Monero’s price fell more than 5% in a single day, sliding from $267 to below $244 before rebounding to $253. For the month, XMR has dropped about 17% despite a broader market rebound. Reports also revealed that Qubic sold a large portion of its mined Monero for stablecoins, then used the funds to buy and burn its own QUBIC tokens boosting its token’s value while maintaining mining dominance.

Why Hoskinson Says Minotaur Prevents This

Industry analysts noted that the Monero event shows how single-resource consensus systems are vulnerable. When one entity accumulates sufficient resources, such as hash power, it can gain control. Hoskinson stressed that Minotaur was designed to avoid this exact risk.

Midnight, powered by Minotaur, is Cardano’s fourth-generation blockchain. It focuses on privacy, scalability, and interoperability, using Zero-Knowledge Proofs (ZK-SNARKs) to verify transactions without revealing private data. Since these processes require heavy computation, Minotaur balances loads and maintains security. Cardano Stake Pool Operators can validate for both Cardano and Midnight without overloading their hardware.

Lanre Durojaiye

Mr. Durojaiye Olusola is a finance graduate and cryptocurrency writer with over a year of experience providing market insights and clear, well-researched analysis. Dedicated to helping readers understand blockchain trends and digital asset developments.

Disclaimer: The information in this article should not be considered financial advice, and FXCryptoNews articles are intended only to provide educational and general information. Please consult with a financial advisor before making any investment decisions.