Cardano (ADA) founder Charles Hoskinson has shared new details about a project that has been hotly anticipated within the crypto world for months: Midnight. The project launches tomorrow and introduces a remarkably powerful privacy technology.
Midnight network comes with powerful technology
During an episode of the Gokhshtein News Network, Hoskinson revealed the roadmap for Midnight, Cardano’s highly anticipated privacy-focused sidechain. Central to the development is Jolteon: a new consensus protocol that, according to Hoskinson, can handle up to five thousand transactions per second. According to him, Jolteon thus offers unprecedented scalability, without making any concessions to security.
Midnight runs separately from the main network, but as a sidechain it benefits from the security and interoperability of Cardano. Developers can build decentralized applications (dApps) that protect sensitive information, something that is often a challenge on regular blockchains. Consider applications for hospitals or legal authorities.
Phased rollout over nine months
The rollout of Midnight is taking place in several phases. A new “wave” of upgrades appears every one to three months. According to Hoskinson, these updates should not only bring technological progress, but also attract new partners and developers.
The phases bear names from the Hawaiian lunar calendar. The first phase is called Hilo and is all about the launch of the NIGHT token. It was launched on December 4 and will be listed on major stock exchanges on December 9. A total of 4.5 billion NIGHT will be issued via an airdrop. Of this, 25 percent will be distributed immediately, followed by three additional distribution rounds for the remainder. This should ensure a wide spread among early adopters.
Those who participated in the Glacier Drop or Scavenger Mine can now claim NIGHT tokens. For Glacier Drop, you had to provide your wallet with, for example, ADA, Bitcoin (BTC) or Ethereum (ETH) during the claim period from August to October. If it was an exchange wallet, the exchange can claim the tokens for you – although this is not guaranteed.
The Scavenger Mine was a three-week campaign where participants provided computing power in exchange for NIGHT tokens.
Tokens can be collected via Midnight’s official Redemption Portal. You have almost a year to do that.
The Kūkolu phase will start in the first quarter of 2026, focusing on privacy-oriented dApps. This will be followed by Mōhalu and Hua in the second and third quarters, with additional infrastructure such as support for hybrid dApps and a strengthened testnet. After these steps, Midnight should grow into a full-fledged platform within the Cardano ecosystem.
Privacy tokens are gaining popularity
Midnight’s launch comes at a time when privacy tokens are gaining traction. Zcash (ZEC) is leading the way. At the time of writing, ZEC’s share price is 15.7 percent higher than 24 hours ago, at $396. In November, the ZEC price peaked around $724, after an increase of almost two thousand percent in three months. Monero (XMR) is also still showing an increase of more than 37 percent over the past three months, despite recent declines.
Source: https://newsbit.nl/midnight-lanceert-morgen-cardano-oprichter-onthult-geheim-wapen/
