The hardware hurdle: Cysic and Cardano clash over the future of decentralized compute

At Consensus Hong Kong 2026, Leo Fan questioned Midnight’s use of Google Cloud and Azure, as Charles Hoskinson justifies hyperscaler partnerships. What to know : At Consensus Hong Kong 2026, Cysic founder Leo Fan warned that blockchain projects relying heavily on hyperscalers like Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure risk recreating single points of failure that undermine crypto’s decentralization ethos. Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson defended partnerships with major cloud providers for the Midnight privacy-focused network, arguing that global, privacy-preserving systems require hyperscaler-level compute while cryptography and confidential computing protect underlying data. The debate between Hoskinson and Fan centers on how to define decentralization, with Hoskinson prioritizing cryptographic neutrality over hardware ownership and Fan urging a hybrid model that limits reliance on Big Tech and extends decentralization to the compute layer itself.