Cardano's Midnight has a big 180 days ahead, Hoskinson says

Charles Hoskinson used a livestream on April 14 to outline what he described as the next 90 to 180 days for Midnight, presenting the privacy-focused network as one of the most important initiatives currently taking shape around Cardano.

Token momentum and liquidity

Hoskinson said Midnight’s token launched in December and has already achieved what he called “near ubiquitous liquidity.” He cited listings and trading activity across venues including Binance Spot and Kraken, and said additional exchanges—such as Korea, Japan, and “legacy exchanges like Coinbase”—are still expected.

He also claimed Midnight demonstrated the ability to trade as much as $9 billion per day at peak liquidity, adding that liquidity issues have eased for the new token.

“There’s no longer liquidity issues, which is extraordinary for a brand new token,” Hoskinson said.

Hoskinson contrasted Midnight’s progress with typical token timelines, saying it usually takes two to three years for tokens to pass through market “trials and tribulations,” while Midnight is “in fast mode.”

Network rollout and roadmap resilience

Alongside token performance, Hoskinson said infrastructure rollout is progressing. He stated Midnight’s “federated guarded mainnet” launched on schedule at the end of March, and that teams are working through post-launch backlog items while continuing parallel ecosystem efforts.

He acknowledged that volatility is expected, but said it has not altered the project’s rollout. Hoskinson said market conditions could be turbulent, including attempts by certain actors to depress the price, while the roadmap remains on track.

“It’s going to be a wild year,” he said. “There’s going to be huge volatility in the underlying asset.”

Ecosystem expansion and participation targets

A key focus for the next phase, according to Hoskinson, is ecosystem formation. He highlighted Night Force, Midnight’s ambassador program, and said he wants to scale it to around 1,000 participants.

He also pointed to Builder Club, saying it is already attracting projects across sectors including healthcare and real estate, as well as NFT marketplaces and other categories within Web3.

Next product iteration: R&D priorities

On the product side, Hoskinson said four major research and development efforts are underway for the next iteration of the roadmap:

• the Midnight DeFi kernel
• the Midnight passport program
• Midnight with Minotaur and its future consensus design
• Nightstream

He said the team expects to show more progress at Consensus.

User experience goals and privacy design

Hoskinson also described the user experience he wants Midnight to deliver, emphasizing speed, usability, and reduced key-management complexity. He said he wants users to be able to create an account within 60 seconds, use the system on a phone, and avoid requiring 24 keywords or managing cryptographic material.

He further said the experience should integrate with services such as OneDrive and Google Drive, aiming to connect Midnight functionality to tools used by billions of people.

On privacy, Hoskinson framed Midnight as combining multiple privacy-enhancing technologies—including zero-knowledge systems, MPC, and trusted execution environments—into a practical system at scale. He described the value proposition as centered on privacy, selective disclosure, and interoperability, rather than isolation.

“Midnight City” and token-driven demand loops

One of the more detailed segments of the livestream focused on “Midnight City,” which Hoskinson described as an agent-driven front page for the protocol. He said users will eventually be able to deploy their own agents into the environment.

Hoskinson said subscriptions and payments inside the system will convert into NIGHT, creating what he described as network demand loops. He said similar loops are also being explored for the DeFi kernel.

Tokenomics and cross-ecosystem positioning

Hoskinson linked the project’s token model to its broader approach to cooperation. He argued Midnight’s dual tokenomics are designed around cooperation rather than competition, and said Midnight benefits from working across ecosystems instead of fighting them.

He said the capacity exchange and support for assets including Bitcoin, Ether, Solana, Avalanche, and BNB are intended to position Midnight as “a layer two to everyone effectively.”

Market context

At press time, Cardano traded at $0.24.