Midnight - State of the Network - October 2025
The first phase of the NIGHT token distribution is now complete, with over 3.5 billion tokens claimed by more than 170,000 addresses during the first phase of Glacier Drop.
The first phase of the NIGHT token distribution is now complete, with over 3.5 billion tokens claimed by more than 170,000 addresses during the first phase of Glacier Drop. The next phase of the NIGHT token distribution is Scavenger Mine. This month’s update also details a strategic collaboration with Google Cloud, strong testnet growth alongside recent hackathons, and an open call for feedback in the annual community survey.
Community Survey now open
The second annual Midnight community survey is now open, providing an essential opportunity for all users and developers to shape the network's future. Feedback directly guides development and highlights community priorities in advance of mainnet launch.
Key insights from the aggregated, anonymized findings will be shared publicly, offering valuable insights into community perspectives on privacy, new use cases, developer preferences and more. The survey takes only 5-10 minutes to complete, don't miss this chance to make your voice heard. Read the recent blog for more details or complete the survey now.
NIGHT token distribution
The first phase of the NIGHT token distribution is now complete, marking a major milestone in the distribution and a significant expansion of the Midnight community. More than 3.5 billion NIGHT tokens were claimed across eight ecosystems from more than 170,000 eligible addresses. This vast participation signals strong early support for the future of the network and ecosystem.
Midnight’s fair and inclusive distribution model is a foundational step toward the mainnet launch, designed to forge a large, diverse, and decentralized community from the outset. More than 14% of NIGHT tokens were claimed in this initial phase, validating the strategy of inviting members from across established Web3 communities for the first phase.
Scavenger Mine
With phase one complete, the second phase of the NIGHT token distribution will soon open participation to a much wider audience. There are no prerequisites or eligibility criteria and no previous on-chain activity is required. Anyone will be able to participate using standard computing hardware and just a web browser.
More details about Scavenger Mine will be shared on the TGE blog.
Network pulse
September's on-chain metrics show a significant increase in network activity. The number of block producers grew by 19%, and the number of deployed smart contracts increased by 29%. Total unique wallet addresses also expanded by 8%, reflecting steady growth in active testnet users.
- 19% increase in the number of block producers
- 29% increase in smart contracts deployed
- 38% decrease in smart contract calls
- 21% increase in faucet requests
- 8% increase in total unique wallet addresses (growth in new/active wallets)
This period of high activity, driven by three back-to-back hackathons, also helped identify a key bottleneck. The intense demand temporarily overloaded the testnet faucet, causing it to stop functioning for a short period. This may be linked to the decrease in smart contract calls, as developers were unable to acquire funds for testing for a short period.
A fix was deployed (Faucet v0.10.5) on September 30 to resolve the issue. This cycle is a prime example of the testnet functioning as intended. The active participation of the developer community is successfully highlighting areas for improvement and allowing for rapid fixes.
Note: These show growth trends across the previous two months. This October update shows changes in network metrics from August to September.
Ecosystem
Google Cloud
The Midnight Foundation announced a strategic collaboration with Google Cloud for enterprise-grade security and infrastructure. Google Cloud will provide secure infrastructure, operate a network validator, and offer advanced threat monitoring through its Mandiant division. This collaboration also expands resources for developers, providing qualifying projects that are building on Midnight access to the Google for Startups Web3 Program.
Midnight x Google Cloud
Hydra Heads
To ensure a smooth experience for a large number of potential users alongside Glacier Drop without creating excessive congestion on the Cardano blockchain, the NIGHT token distribution will use Hydra, a Layer 2 scaling protocol.
Hydra is built to increase transaction speed and capacity. The protocol uses Hydra Heads, which are secure, off-chain channels where participants can process transactions rapidly. The final, consolidated results are then settled back to the main Cardano blockchain. This method efficiently manages high transaction volumes for complex applications. Learn more about Hydra in the recent blog.
For Glacier Drop, each Hydra Head is operated by independent partners to operate the nodes: Alchemy, Anastasia Labs, BitGo, Blockdaemon, IOE, and SundaeLabs. Their combined participation validates the technology as a secure, production-grade scaling solution. Read more about the Hydra Head partners in the recent blog.
Midnight x Hydra Heads
Brave Wallet integration
Brave Software completed the native integration of Cardano into the Brave Wallet. Users can now hold and manage ADA, send transactions, swap tokens, and participate in governance directly in the browser, with no extensions needed. This integration also simplifies participation in Scavenger Mine for Brave Wallet users. Eligible users can create a Cardano destination address in Brave Wallet to claim $NIGHT tokens and manage them as a Cardano native asset. Learn more about the Brave Wallet integration.
Hackathons
The momentum from recent competitions is carrying straight into this month, as another opportunity for contribution is already underway.
Hacktoberfest
Hacktoberfest is underway, presenting a new opportunity for developers to get involved in the Midnight ecosystem, contribute to open-source privacy-enhancing technology, and earn Zealy points. Developers are invited to contribute to the Midnight open-source ecosystem by improving core libraries, documentation, and DApps. Find eligible tasks labelled ‘hacktoberfest’ in repositories like Midnight Docs and MidnightJs, or explore specific quests on the Community Hub. Qualifying pull requests can earn digital rewards, including the official event badge. See the full Contributor Guide and find an issue to start.
MLH Hackathon
The recent MLH hackathon saw a massive turnout, with 1,724 registrants and 54 final project submissions. The engagement and quality of the projects demonstrated exceptional enthusiasm for building with privacy-enhancing technology. The top four teams have been accepted into a 10-week MLH Fellowship incubator to continue developing their projects.
The winning project, EclipseProof, provides a solution for private income verification. The application uses Midnight's zero-knowledge smart contracts to allow an individual to prove they meet a financial threshold for a loan or rental application, for example. This process confirms eligibility without revealing the applicant's exact salary or other private financial data to the verifier. Read the EclipseProof team's full project summary on Devpost.
Weekly Fireside Hangs
If you’re a builder, curious about ZK tech or just want to jump in and learn with the DevRel team. Pull up a seat and join the conversation every Wednesday at 15:00 UTC on YouTube.
Releases and documentation
Release 0.26.0 of the Compact compiler is now available. This update introduces several new features, including indexable and iterable bytes values and support for hexadecimal, octal, and binary numeric literals. The compiler also now supports spread operators in tuples and bytes.
A significant governance change is also part of this release: the Compact compiler has been contributed to the Linux Foundation Decentralized Trust (LFDT). This moves the compiler's development to an open-source foundation which encourages community-driven collaboration and accelerates the development of privacy-enhancing technology by making the tooling open and accessible.
To follow all the latest news and updates across the Midnight Network, join the community on X now.
contributors
Ian MacRae Copywriter
Thiago Earp Content Marketing Lead
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