Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson said Monday that Midnight is now live, marking the mainnet debut of the privacy-focused network that has been one of the highest-profile infrastructure bets tied to the broader Cardano ecosystem. In his March 30 livestream, Hoskinson said the chain had already been running for a while, with average block times holding at roughly six seconds, more than 163,000 blocks produced, and a finality gap of about two blocks.
Midnight Launch Marks Major Cardano Ecosystem Milestone
The launch itself was formally announced by Midnight via X. The project said the genesis block had been produced and that developers, partners and institutions would now be able to deploy applications and migrate assets onto the network. The release lands on the timeline the team had previously outlined in February, when Midnight said mainnet was scheduled for late March 2026. It also follows the December 2025 launch of NIGHT, the network’s native token, on Cardano.
Hoskinson framed the current phase as a controlled production launch rather than an instant jump to open decentralization. He described Midnight as being in a “guarded era,” with a strong federated network and an active post-launch bug-fix queue already numbering more than 130 items. None, he said, were showstoppers, but the team expects to spend the next two to three weeks hardening the system while partners and developers begin building against a live environment.
That characterization matches Midnight’s official rollout plan. The foundation said the network is entering production through a phased application deployment period designed to prioritize operational stability and security before later stages of decentralization. In this initial setup, federated node operators run the core infrastructure under explicit participation rules, with the longer-term goal of progressing toward a more decentralized and permissionless model.
Midnight’s launch post highlights a roster of federated node partners that includes Worldpay, Bullish, MoneyGram, Pairpoint by Vodafone, eToro, AlphaTON Capital, Google Cloud, Blockdaemon and Shielded Technologies. That institutional mix is central to Midnight’s pitch: a privacy-preserving public blockchain intended to support live applications without asking enterprises to accept the data exposure typical of fully transparent ledgers.
Midnight’s technical proposition is built around programmable privacy. According to the project’s launch materials, the network combines public and private data through a hybrid ledger architecture, uses client-side generation of zero-knowledge proofs so sensitive data remains on user devices, and supports both shielded and unshielded assets depending on the application’s needs. The protocol also supports selective disclosure, allowing counterparties, auditors or regulators to view specific records when application logic requires it, without exposing all underlying transaction data by default.
Economically, Midnight is also trying to differentiate itself from conventional gas-token networks. The chain uses a dual-component model in which NIGHT acts as the unshielded governance and utility token, while DUST functions as the renewable transaction resource consumed by applications. Midnight says DUST regenerates over time based on NIGHT holdings, with a full recharge reached over seven days, a design meant to make transaction costs more predictable for businesses and allow developers to subsidize usage for end users.
Hoskinson used the livestream to pair the launch announcement with a broader educational push. He said he has published a free book, Proving Nothing: A Complete Guide to Zero-Knowledge Proof Systems, aimed at non-technical readers who want a comprehensive overview of how ZK systems work.
On the product side, Hoskinson said Lace would receive an update tied to Midnight mainnet support, with version 136.2 already submitted for approval at the browser extension store. He added that Lace v2 and a mobile release are both expected in April.
At press time, Cardano traded at $0.24.
