One year of SOTN
This edition marks one year of State of the Network. Since the first issue in February 2025, this has served as a key reference point for activity across the Midnight ecosystem.
Its goal is simple: to provide a high-level overview of the network’s evolution, offering clear insights into partner integrations, application development, technical updates, learning resources, emerging use cases, and opportunities to get involved. Entering 2026, State of the Network remains an essential resource for tracking how these distinct pieces connect to form a unified network and community.
Below is a recap of some key developments in 2025, followed by some highlights from the roadmap for the year ahead.
Major technical and community achievements in 2025
The last twelve months defined a clear trajectory for the Midnight ecosystem: expanding developer activity, hardening the testnet infrastructure in preparation for mainnet, and establishing the tokenomics and incentives framework. This foundational and essential work laid the ground rules for how the network operates and prepared the ecosystem for one of the largest token distributions in blockchain history.
Delivering a cross-chain event of the scale of Glacier Drop was an exceptionally complex achievement. Builders interested in the operational strategy behind the Glacier Drop, including the use of Hydra for throughput and the coordination of eight distinct chain standards, should read Shielded Technologies Chief of Staff Marta Szluinska’s retrospective on the Shielded blog.
Stress testing and community engagement
An ongoing schedule of hackathons tested and validated technical updates on testnet-02. From sea battles to identity challenges, developers tested the limits of the network and shared their feedback directly about building on Midnight. A rapid succession of hackathons in the autumn further stress-tested the network and accelerated on-chain activity, driving critical stability improvements and demonstrating privacy-enhancing use cases. This consistent feedback loop supported the development and open-sourcing of core repositories, ensuring the code base matured alongside the community growth.
Formalizing the tokenomics
Mid-year marked the emergence of the network's governing structures. The Midnight Foundation and Shielded Technologies launched in May. By July, the publication of the tokenomics and incentives whitepaper established the dual-component tokenomics of the network and set the stage for the NIGHT token distribution.
NIGHT distribution and launch
In the second half of 2025, the NIGHT token distribution captured community attention across eight blockchain ecosystems and beyond. Glacier Drop and Scavenger Mine successfully allocated 4.5 billion NIGHT to a rapidly expanding Midnight community. This widespread distribution set the stage for the Midnight Summit in November and culminated in the official NIGHT token launch in December.
Now, all of these pieces are in place to enable the next phases of the roadmap.
Upcoming Roadmap
The significant achievements through 2025 brought the network to the Hilo phase. Moving into 2026, the roadmap shifts focus from token distribution to mainnet, scaling, and cross-chain hybridization.
Current Status: Hilo
The network is currently in the Hilo phase, which utilizes the Cardano network's security to establish the utility and liquidity of the NIGHT token. The operational goal is to achieve widespread accessibility, providing builders with an accessible and predictable economic system in advance of Midnight mainnet.
- Technical Milestone: NIGHT tokens are minted and live on Cardano mainnet.
Next Up: Kūkolu
With liquidity established, the network transitions to Kūkolu. This phase launches a stable, federated mainnet designed specifically for the first wave of production applications. Operations focus on deploying the first privacy-preserving DApps, allowing builders to move from test environments to a live network and utilize Midnight’s privacy capabilities in production for the first time.
- Technical Milestone: The network produces the genesis block of the Midnight mainnet, secured by a core set of trusted validators.
Read more about all four roadmap phases that were revealed at the Midnight Summit
Builders, get mainnet ready
As the network transitions to Kūkolu, the Midnight team is compiling a definitive inventory of applications targeting the launch window.
If you are a builder with a DApp planning to go live on the federated mainnet, please submit your project and its current status so the team can share an up-to-date inventory.
Share your project details here.
Network pulse
Following November's extraordinary metrics, the network recorded another substantial surge in participation throughout December, showing activity levels substantially above the normal levels of 2025.
Network activity continues to grow rapidly, with a 19% increase in block producers and a 35% rise in smart contract deployments, signaling strong builder activity. Unique addresses and faucet requests also climbed by 10% and 13% respectively. Notably, while smart contract calls decreased by 54% month-over-month, this volume remains significantly higher than the 2025 baseline, reflecting a natural stabilization after the record-breaking spike in November rather than a decline in core usage.
Note: These show growth trends across the previous two months. This January update shows changes in network metrics from November to December.
Education & resources
Midnight Academy 2.0 Launch
Midnight Academy 2.0 has officially launched. The Academy is a core educational resource, designed specifically for developers ready to ship production-grade applications. The curriculum advances builders directly to execution, offering a hands-on, builder-native workflow that moves directly from concept to deployment.
The Midnight Academy provides authoritative, practical guidance on privacy and compliance, breaking down complex ZK concepts into usable code. It offers a direct pathway for every level of builder:
- Web2 Developers: Apply existing TypeScript skills to build privacy-preserving smart contracts without requiring a background in cryptography.
- Web3 Natives: Develop hybrid DApps that solve real-world compliance constraints by combining "privacy-first" logic with transparent ledgers.
- The ZK-Curious: Learn and master the functional application of zero-knowledge proofs in live environments.
Start learning with Midnight Academy
Ecosystem Partnerships
Recent partnerships span the entire infrastructure stack from exchanges, custodians and data aggregators, to partners that will enable privacy-preserving stablecoins, and delivering robust developer tooling.
NIGHT token launch partnerships
The Midnight TGE has established strategic partnerships alongside the NIGHT token launch and Hilo phase of the roadmap, focusing on immediate liquidity and security before the mainnet genesis. This initiative secured swift integrations with top-tier global exchanges, ensuring the NIGHT token is discoverable and accessible to a worldwide audience from day one. Simultaneously, partnerships with regulated custodians provide institutional-grade security for asset storage, while major data aggregators deliver the real-time transparency needed for accurate market tracking.
Read more about these partnerships on the TGE blog.
Decentralized Identity
To enable private and secure applications, the Midnight network requires a robust identity layer built on decentralized identifiers (DIDs) and zero-knowledge (ZK) technology. Building out this framework is a collaborative effort, with ecosystem partners now organized around two key areas: constructing the foundational infrastructure and deploying it in real-world use cases.
Learn more about how partners are building decentralized identity on Midnight.
W3i Software
The ecosystem expands with the announcement of shieldUSD, a privacy-preserving stablecoin currently in development by W3i Software. ShieldUSD targets real-world financial workflows that require confidentiality. By leveraging Midnight’s rational privacy architecture, the asset will offer default privacy alongside selective disclosure, enabling institutions to cryptographically prove compliance without exposing sensitive data on-chain.
Read the full press release here.
Midnight Explorer
The Midnight Foundation has partnered with Midnight Explorer to support ecosystem growth. This community-built tool delivers real-time indexed data across all network environments, alongside a developer-friendly API suite for deep DApp integration. The partnership ensures continued upgrades to the platform, enhancing analysis tools, governance tracking, and data accessibility for builders and users alike. Explore at:
- Testnet: https://testnet.midnightexplorer.com
- Preview: https://preview.midnightexplorer.com
Releases & Documentation
The ecosystem continues to mature with the release of the Midnight MCP Server, a tool developed in direct response to high demand from the builder community.
General-purpose AI models lack specific training on the Compact language, so they often generate incorrect or hallucinatory code. The MCP server solves this by bridging the gap between AI coding assistants, such as Claude, Cursor, and VS Code Copilot, and Midnight. By providing AI models with direct, structured access to valid repositories and static analysis tools, it transforms generic assistants into specialized Midnight experts.
Since its release, the tool has been downloaded over 6,000 times via NPM, demonstrating its utility as an essential piece of the developer stack.
Documentation Overhaul
A comprehensive redesign of the Developer Hub and technical documentation is currently in progress. These updates will incorporate significant improvements and align the developer resources with the specific requirements of the upcoming roadmap milestones. Be sure to check back often for updates.
To follow all the latest news and updates across the Midnight Network, join the community on X now.