@MidnightNtwrk's native token $NIGHT rose 24.6% in 24 hours to $0.0478, briefly touching $0.0498. According to CoinMarketCap data, its market cap climbed to $794 million at the time, placing
@MidnightNtwrk's native token $NIGHT rose 24.6% in 24 hours to $0.0478, briefly touching $0.0498. According to CoinMarketCap data, its market cap climbed to $794 million at the time, placing it at rank 72. The move came as Midnight opened smart contract deployment to all builders on its mainnet.
Midnight reached an important point in its mainnet rollout, with permissionless smart contract deployment now live. Developers can deploy contracts directly to Midnight mainnet without first going through a required security review on the Preprod environment.Applications can also deploy contracts on behalf of users, removing another hurdle from the onboarding process.
Built as a privacy-focused partner chain to Cardano, Midnight is designed to enable confidential data processing while maintaining compatibility with public blockchain infrastructure. The change comes roughly six months after Midnight launched its mainnet in March 2026. That initial release deliberately used a more controlled deployment model while the network focused on stability and security.
Midnight Foundation CTO Sebastien Guillemot has outlined the path ahead for private smart contracts on the mainnet. According to secondary reporting, Guillemot described the September 26 Node 1.0.3 release as the final major technical update before smart contract deployment. Looking ahead, the planned v8 upgrade will enable private contracts and private custom tokens, while the v9 release will add composability, possibly before the end of 2026.
More than 4.5 billion NIGHT tokens were distributed to over 8 million wallets via the Glacier Drop and Scavenger Mine airdrops.The redemption period started on December 10, 2025, and will end on December 4, 2026. Tokens gradually become available over the redemption period through a process Midnight calls thawing, which occurs in four phases, each unlocking 25% of a holder's NIGHT. The first thaw date is randomly assigned to each address within the first 90 days of the redemption period. More than 4.5 billion airdropped NIGHT are still unlocking in stages, with the final installments due by around December 2026.
Sources:CaptainAltcoin: Midnight Enters Its Next Phase as Smart Contracts Go PermissionlessExodus: Midnight NIGHT Airdrop FAQsCoinMarketCap: Midnight (NIGHT) Price and Market Data
