Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson has released a free book aimed at explaining anonymity systems to a wider crypto audience, pitching it as an educational project and on-ramp at midnight, the Cardano privacy-focused network. The linked GitHub repository indicates that the work is published under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license, while the latest public release is now titled Proving Nothing: A Layered Guide to Zero-Knowledge Proof Systems.
Cardano Founder Drops ZK Free Book with 337 pages
In a March 27 livestream, Hoskinson said the project grew out of what he described as a “shockingly low level of understanding” surrounding the proof-of-concept and ZK cryptography. “So I wrote a 337-page book a few months ago,” he said. He described it as a non-technical manual, although it still contains a significant amount of technical material, built around a seven-layer framework for understanding how ZK systems are designed from setup and languages to authentication systems, cryptography, and the authentication environment.
I wrote a letter
— Charles Hoskinson (@IOHK_Charles) March 27, 2026
That building is the backbone of the stadium. Cardano’s founder said the framework is intended to help students “understand all of ZK’s systems from that lens,” then move up to the next level of privacy-enhancing technology and, ultimately, Midnight itself. The repository’s README makes a similar case in official language, describing the book as a guide to “all zero knowledge from the bottom up” and arguing that ZK programs don’t eliminate trust so much as break it down into small, testable pieces.
The midnight angle is not accidental. Hoskinson clearly presents the book as “a good way to introduce Midnight to people,” and says that one chapter is devoted to networking, even if the broader work is designed as a general introduction to the missing information.
He also said that the book goes beyond the seven-layer model into private crypto contracts, the ZEXE model linked by Aleo, the Midnight Kachina system, zkVMs, STARK-to-SNARK pipelines, and the broader market landscape of privacy and proof systems.
That estimate has already been expanded from the version Hoskinson described in the video. The GitHub release notes for v1.10, published on March 30, indicate that the book was renamed from The Seven-Layer Magic Trick to Proving Nothing, and now ships in both EPUB and PDF format. The file list in that release lists a 357-page PDF for dark mode, while chapter notes show edits and additions to all 14 chapters, including sections on zkVMs, market structure, eIDAS 2.0, rollups, and a more detailed Midnight case study.
The new release of my book: Version 1.1 of Proving Nothing is out
— Charles Hoskinson (@IOHK_Charles) March 30, 2026
Hoskinson also clarified that this is not a static book. “This is the first version, version 1.01,” he said on the live stream. “I’m going to keep adding and changing and working on it every weekend as more things come up and as more things are introduced at Midnight, I’ll add to this.” That’s important because the book seems to be designed less as a one-off manifesto than as a lively educational book combined with Midnight Release and the broad marketing of privacy technology.
At press time, Cardano traded at $0.2468.
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