Midnight (NIGHT) In-Depth Analysis: The Privacy Revolution in Cardano Ecosystem

Midnight Network’s NIGHT token surged almost 200% within 24 hours of its December 9 launch, becoming the most-trending asset on CoinGecko and CoinMarketCap.  The token hit a market cap above $1.2 billion and registered more than $320 million in trading volume during its first full day. Mega Bullish Season For Privacy Coins? Architecturally, Midnight is conceived as a “partner chain” or sidechain to Cardano. Its initial token and ledger are issued on Cardano (as a Cardano Native Asset).  The hyped market debut places Midnight Network at the centre of a broader shift in the market. Privacy coins have rallied since October.  Most recently, it has been fueled by regulatory pressure in Europe, tightening surveillance rules, and a renewed appetite for zero-knowledge technology. Zcash sparked the trend with a tenfold rise between October and mid-November. The surge coincided with the EU’s approval of rules that will bar exchanges from listing privacy coins starting in 2027.  Traders rotated into Dash, Railgun, Decred, and Monero as the sector gained momentum, lifting privacy-token volumes toward $3 billion at peak. However, the rally has carried tension. Analysts warn that increased regulatory scrutiny may force privacy activity off regulated platforms.  At the same time, controversy around EU surveillance measures and the proposed Chat Control law has strengthened demand for technologies that preserve confidentiality. Against this backdrop, Midnight’s launch arrived at the perfect moment. The project positions itself as a privacy-first network using zero-knowledge proofs and a dual-token model.  NIGHT acts as the primary asset, while DUST funds private transactions. The model offers selective disclosure, making data visible only when required. This structure aligns with the market’s rotation toward privacy infrastructure rather than simple anonymity tools. It also fits rising concerns over wallet tracking, identity verification requirements, and the future of personal data in digital finance. Crypto Privacy Narrative Is Taking Off Trading interest reflected that narrative. NIGHT climbed from around $0.039 to more than $0.085 before easing. Its circulating supply reached 16.6 billion tokens, with investors treating the launch as an entry point into the next phase of the privacy-technology cycle. Midnight’s NIGHT Token Price Chart. Source: CoinGecko Yet the privacy sector remains volatile. Zcash retraced more than 40% after its November peak, while Dash’s early-December breakout lost momentum.  Analysts expect rotation between leaders to continue as regulation tightens and new privacy-focused projects emerge. For now, Midnight has captured the strongest launch momentum of any new token this quarter. Its rise illustrates how fast capital is moving into privacy infrastructure as the regulatory environment hardens.  The next test will be whether demand stays high once the initial hype fades and the market shifts its focus from narrative to usage.

Meteora disclosed that it invested 10 million USDC in Q4 to buy back 2.3% of the total token supply and launched the Comet Points points system. Solana's ecosystem liquidity protocol, Meteora, announced on the X platform that in the fourth quarter of 2025, it spent 10 million USDC to buy back MET tokens, representing a cumulative buyback of 2.3% of the total supply. Future buybacks will be conducted using a single wallet. Furthermore, Meteora announced the launch of its "Comet Points" points system, where users can earn points by staking MET tokens and using products. Meteora plans to build a "Comet Points" redemption system where users can use points to obtain airdrop/pre-sale eligibility, shop in the off-chain redemption store, and purchase liquidity mining guidance services. A certain whale/institution has converted 1,469 BTC into 43,647 ETH in the past two weeks. According to on-chain analyst Ember, a whale/institution has exchanged 1,469 BTC for 43,647 ETH (US$131 million) through THORChain in the past half month, with an average ETH price of US$3,000. Tom Lee: Ethereum has bottomed out, so BitMine is actively buying in. According to Decrypt, Fundstrat co-founder and BitMine chairman Tom Lee stated in an interview, "BitMine believes Ethereum has bottomed out, and we've more than doubled our Ethereum purchases compared to two weeks ago." Lee and BitMine are more excited about Ethereum's prospects over the next 10 to 15 years, especially given Wall Street's acceptance of the Ethereum network and its role in future finance. He stated, "The reason we're excited about Ethereum is that Wall Street has chosen to use this blockchain to position itself for the future. It started with stablecoins, which was a major 'epiphany' moment for Wall Street… but that was just tokenizing the dollar. Now Wall Street wants to tokenize everything, and they're not building on Bitcoin—they need a smart contract platform." The company has recently significantly increased its Ethereum holdings, purchasing over 138,452 ETH last week, worth approximately $460 million at current prices. This is the largest single transaction since BitMine purchased over 200,000 ETH in October. As of Wednesday, the company held approximately 3.864 million ETH, representing about 3.2% of the circulating Ethereum supply. CBOE has approved the listing and registration of the 21Shares XRP ETF. According to Cointelegraph, the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) has approved the listing and registration of the 21Shares XRP ETF. A whale withdrew $13.89 million worth of SOL tokens from Kraken 10 hours ago. According to Onchain Lens monitoring, a whale withdrew 101,365 SOL (worth $13.89 million) from Kraken 10 hours ago. Currently, the whale holds a total of 628,564 SOL (total value of $84.13 million), of which 519,217 SOL are in its wallet and another 109,348 SOL are staked. Huang Licheng deposited approximately 255,000 USDC into Hyperliquid to increase his long ETH position. According to Lookonchain monitoring, Huang Licheng (@machibigbrother) has just deposited another 254,727 USDC into Hyperliquid to continue going long on ETH. His position has now increased to 11,100 ETH (worth $36.36 million), with a liquidation price of $3,201.04. The U.S. OCC has warned Wall Street about the "de-banking" of industries such as digital assets, calling such practices "illegal." According to CoinDesk, President Trump's actions against the "debanking" of controversial sectors like digital assets have prompted a new report from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). The report further confirms past practices and warns that banks suspected of involvement could face penalties. The brief OCC report reviewed nine of the largest national banks in the US, concluding that "between 2020 and 2023, these banks developed public and private policies that restricted certain sectors from accessing banking services, including requiring escalating reviews and approvals before offering financial services." The report states that some large banks set higher barriers to entry for controversial or environmentally sensitive businesses, or activities that contradict their own values. Financial giants such as JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and Citigroup are highlighted, with links to their past public policies, particularly those concerning environmental issues. The report states, "The OCC intends to pursue accountability for any illegal 'debanking' activities by these banks, including referring cases to the Attorney General." However, it remains unclear which specific laws these activities may have violated. The US CFTC has announced the first batch of members of its CEO Innovation Committee, including CEOs from companies such as Gemini and Kraken. According to CoinDesk, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has announced the inaugural members of its "CEO Innovation Committee." This committee aims to delve into the evolving dynamics of the derivatives market structure, particularly focusing on tokenization, cryptocurrencies, and blockchain technology. The full list of new committee members is as follows: Shayne Coplan, CEO of Polymarket; Craig Donohue, CEO of Cboe Global Markets; Terry Duffy, Chairman and CEO of CME Group; Tom Farley, CEO of Bullish; Adena Friedman, Chairman and CEO of Nasdaq; Luke Hoersten, CEO of Bitnomial; Tarek Mansour, CEO of Kalshi; Kris Marszalek, CEO of Crypto.com; David Schwimmer, CEO of London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG); Arjun Sethi, Co-CEO of Kraken; Jeff Sprecher, CEO of Intercontinental Exchange; and Tyler Winklevoss, CEO of Gemini. In a statement, CFTC Chair Caroline Pham said the committee members assembled quickly within two weeks and will "focus on developments in the derivatives market's structure, such as tokenization, crypto assets, 24/7 trading, perpetual contracts, prediction markets, and blockchain market infrastructure." Pham's term as chair of the agency is expected to end soon, and President Trump's nominee for committee chair, Mike Selig, is expected to be confirmed by the Senate as early as Wednesday. The "1011 Insider Whale" has added approximately 19,000 ETH to its long positions, bringing its latest position to 120,000 ETH. According to on-chain analyst @ai_9684xtpa, as ETH briefly fell to the order book level, the "whale that opened short positions after the October 11 flash crash" has completed its trades and added 19,108.69 ETH. Its latest holdings are 120,094.52 ETH, worth $392 million, with an opening price of $3,177.89 and a floating profit of $10.13 million. A new wallet has received another 300 BTC from Galaxy Digital, worth $27.6 million. According to Onchain Lens monitoring, a newly created wallet received an additional 300 BTC from Galaxy Digital, worth $27.6 million. Currently, the wallet holds a total of 1,200 BTC, with a total value of $110.47 million. Lighter surpassed Hyperliquid to take the top spot in 24-hour trading volume on the Perp DEX. According to Cointelegraph, Lighter surpassed Hyperliquid to take the top spot in 24-hour trading volume on the perp DEX, with a volume of $8.83 billion, compared to Hyperliquid's $8.52 billion. The US government transferred 1,934 WETH and 13.58 million BUSD from the FTX Alameda seizure to a new wallet. According to Onchain Lens, the US government has transferred 1,934 WETH (worth $6.43 million) and 13.58 million BUSD from the seized funds of FTX Alameda to a new wallet. State Street Bank and Galaxy will launch a tokenized liquidity fund on the Solana blockchain next year. According to CoinDesk, State Street and Galaxy Asset Management plan to launch a tokenized liquidity fund in early 2026. This fund will utilize stablecoins to enable 24/7 investor liquidity, expanding the application of public blockchains in institutional cash management. Named the "State Street Galaxy Onchain Liquidity Sweep Fund" (SWEEP), the fund will accept subscriptions and redemptions in PayPal's stablecoin PYUSD, provided the fund has available assets to process related requests. Only qualified buyers meeting predetermined thresholds will be able to invest. Ondo Finance has committed approximately $200 million as seed funding for the product. The two companies anticipate launching the SWEEP fund on the Solana blockchain initially, followed by Stellar and Ethereum blockchains. Galaxy Asset Management plans to leverage Chainlink's tools to facilitate cross-chain data and asset transfers. The "1011 Insider Whale" added over 20,000 ETH to its long positions in the early morning, and currently holds a floating profit of approximately $16.54 million. According to Hyperbot data, the "whale that opened short positions after the flash crash on October 11th" has been continuously adding to its ETH long positions for the past 6 hours, currently holding 100,985.8357 ETH (worth approximately $335 million), an increase of 20,000 ETH compared to the initial position of 80,985.8357 ETH 6 hours ago. The current average opening price is $3,158.57, with a floating profit of approximately $16.54 million. Bitmine purchased another 33,504 ETH from FalconX, worth $112 million. According to Onchain Lens, Bitmine has once again purchased 33,504 ETH from FalconX, worth $112 million. Stripe acquires Valora wallet team to expand its stablecoin services. According to The Block, payment giant Stripe has expanded its cryptocurrency business by acquiring the team of crypto startup Valora through an "acquisition-style hiring." On Wednesday, Valora founder Jackie Bona announced that the team would join Stripe to pursue its mission of expanding access to the global financial system. Specific terms of the deal, including the number of Valora employees joining Stripe, were not disclosed. According to Bona, the acquisition does not appear to include the intellectual property behind Valora's technology. She wrote that the app will "return to its birthplace, cLabs, to continue operating, with cLabs leading its future development." Launched in 2021, Valora developed a mobile-first, user-controlled cryptocurrency wallet application, specifically for stablecoins on the CELO blockchain. Valora aims to make sending cryptocurrency as simple as sending a text message and has previously partnered with peer-to-peer applications like M-Pesa to expand into the African market and with stablecoin issuer Tether to promote the global adoption of stablecoins. Gemini has received approval from the CFTC to enter the prediction market, and may expand into crypto futures, options, and perpetual contracts in the future. According to The Block, cryptocurrency exchange Gemini Space Station, Inc. (ticker symbol GEMI) has received approval from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on Wednesday to operate a designated contract market (DCM) in the prediction market space. In a statement, Gemini said its prediction platform, named "Gemini Titan," will initially offer classic binary event contracts, which "pose simple 'yes or no' questions about future events." In the future, the platform may expand to other derivatives markets under CFTC regulation, such as cryptocurrency futures, options, and perpetual contracts. "The Fed's mouthpiece": Three rate cuts have failed to quell internal disputes; the risk of stagflation needs to be guarded against. According to Jinshi News, Nick Timiraos, a well-known voice within the Federal Reserve, recently wrote that while Fed officials cut interest rates for the third consecutive meeting, there is an unusual division within the Fed regarding whether inflation or the job market should be a greater concern. Therefore, officials have hinted at a low willingness to continue cutting rates. Recent public comments from Fed officials indicate a deep division within the committee, to the point that the final decision may depend on how Fed Chairman Powell wants to proceed. Powell's term expires next May, meaning he will only chair the next three interest rate-setting meetings. Strong price pressures coupled with a cooling labor market present the Fed with an unpleasant trade-off, a situation unseen for decades. During the so-called "stagflation" of the 1970s, when officials faced a similar dilemma, the Fed's stop-and-go approach allowed high inflation to take hold. Jonathan Pingle, chief US economist at UBS, stated, "As interest rates approach neutral, with each rate cut you lose more support from participants, and you need data to incentivize those participants to join the majority in implementing rate cuts." Trump criticizes the Federal Reserve for its ineffective rate cuts; "another Kevin" undergoes final interview today. According to Global Markets News, US President Trump criticized the Federal Reserve on Wednesday for cutting interest rates too small and said he would meet with former Fed Governor Kevin Warsh that day to interview him for the position of chairman. The president stated that he did not ask Powell's successor to make any pronouncements on rate cuts, but said his view was that "our rates should be much lower." "I'm basically very clear about who I'm looking for. Again, I'm looking for someone honest on interest rates," Trump said on Wednesday, adding that he might announce his decision within the next two weeks. Trump's remarks came shortly after the Fed announced its third consecutive 25-basis-point rate cut. The president called the adjustment "quite small, it should have doubled, at least doubled." He also criticized Powell as "rigid" and "stubborn." The selection process for the new Fed chairman is nearing completion, and Trump said on Tuesday that he was considering "several different candidates, but I'm very clear about who I want." National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett is considered the leading candidate for the position, and Trump has repeatedly hinted at this outcome. However, it is well known that he often makes unpredictable personnel decisions, and any speculation cannot be considered conclusive until the official nominations are announced. Other finalists included current Federal Reserve Governors Christopher Waller and Michelle Bowman, as well as Rick Reid of BlackRock. Bessant recommended four of the five to Trump. Powell: The Fed has shifted to a wait-and-see approach; rate hikes are not currently the base case. According to CLS News Agency, on Wednesday, Eastern Time, after the Federal Reserve cut interest rates by 25 basis points as expected, Chairman Powell delivered a speech. He stated that current interest rates are at a good level and can cope with changes in the economic outlook, but he did not provide guidance on whether there would be another rate cut in the near future. Powell pointed out, "It is worth noting that since last September, we have cut rates by a total of 175 basis points, including 75 basis points since this September. Currently, the federal funds rate is in a broad range of neutral levels, and we are in a favorable position to wait and see further developments in the economy." He added, "Monetary policy is not a fixed path set in advance; we will make decisions step by step based on the situation at each meeting." Notably, after Powell stated that no one currently considers a rate hike as a basic expectation, the three major US stock indexes began to rebound sharply. Analysts pointed out that Powell's speech undoubtedly relieved traders, who bought stocks in droves. The optimism stemmed from the market's belief that the Fed would not consider raising interest rates, but rather focus on future easing policies, even if such easing may not materialize in the near future. The Federal Reserve cut interest rates by 25 basis points, and is expected to cut rates only once in 2026. According to the Securities Times, on December 10th local time, the Federal Reserve announced a 25 basis point cut to its benchmark interest rate, from the current 3.75%-4% range to 3.5%-3.75%. This is the Fed's third consecutive rate cut, bringing the cumulative reduction to 75 basis points. In its statement, the Fed said that current indicators show economic activity is expanding at a moderate pace, but job growth has slowed this year, and the unemployment rate rose before September. Recent indicators are consistent with these developments. Notably, significant divisions emerged again among members of the Fed's Monetary Policy Committee in the vote. This marks the third consecutive time that Fed Governor Milan has voted against the cut, and his term expires in January. Schmid voted against the cut for the second consecutive time. Three members voted against the cut, a situation not seen since September 2019. The closely watched "dot plot" of future policy projections shows that the Fed will cut rates only once in 2026 and again in 2027, after which the federal funds rate will reach its long-term target of approximately 3%. These projections are unchanged from the September update, but the charts reflect the internal divisions within the committee regarding the direction of interest rates. In addition to the interest rate decision, the Federal Reserve also announced it would resume purchasing Treasury bonds. If SpaceX's IPO valuation reaches $1.5 trillion, Musk's net worth will approach $1 trillion. According to Bloomberg, if SpaceX goes public in 2026 with a valuation of $1.5 trillion, Elon Musk's net worth will jump from the current $460.6 billion to approximately $952 billion, with his SpaceX stake alone valued at $625 billion. This IPO could be Musk's second path to becoming the world's first "instant trillionaire," following Tesla. SpaceX is currently valued at approximately $800 billion and plans to offer $2 billion in employee stock. If completed, the company will regain its title as the "world's most valuable private company." Crypto AI platform Surf raises $15 million, led by Pantera Capital. According to Fortune, Surf, a crypto AI platform, has raised $15 million in funding, led by Pantera Capital with participation from Coinbase Ventures and DCG. Co-founded by former UC Berkeley AI researcher Ryan Li, Surf focuses on providing more accurate and "illusion-free" crypto market analysis. Currently, the platform has over 300,000 users and annual revenue in the millions of dollars, with a target of reaching $10 million by the end of 2026. Surf plans to launch its upgraded model, Surf 2.0, in February 2026, further solidifying its leading position in crypto AI. Sei will partner with Xiaomi to pre-install Web3 payment applications on new smartphones worldwide. According to a Sei Network announcement, Sei will partner with Xiaomi, the world's third-largest smartphone manufacturer, to pre-install its next-generation crypto wallet and discovery app, powered by Sei, on new Xiaomi phones sold outside of mainland China and the United States. The app supports stablecoin payments, P2P transfers, and DApp integration, and will eventually expand to Xiaomi's 20,000 global retail channels, initially launching in Hong Kong and the European Union, with a target launch date of Q2 2026. Simultaneously, Sei announced the establishment of a $5 million Global Mobile Innovation Fund to accelerate the adoption of blockchain in consumer devices. Coinbase will support the migration of MKR to SKY, and will suspend related services starting January 12. According to a Coinbase Markets announcement, from January 12th to 14th, 2026, Maker tokens will be available for migration from MKR to SKY at a conversion rate of 1 MKR : 23,520 SKY. During this period, MKR trading and transfers will be suspended. Users who do not wish to automatically convert must withdraw their MKR to their self-custodied wallets before January 12th. Strategy has submitted a formal objection to MSCI's proposed exclusion of "digital asset finance companies". According to an open letter submitted to MSCI, Strategy strongly opposes MSCI's proposal to exclude companies with digital assets exceeding 50% of their total assets from its global investable market indices. The letter points out that DATs like Strategy are operating companies, not investment funds, possessing business innovation capabilities and actual revenue streams. The proposal would unduly interfere with innovation and capital formation, weaken the US leadership in the digital asset sector, and impact the allocation of billions of dollars in passive funds. Strategy recommends that MSCI extend the consultation period and avoid discriminatory rules. Japan plans to shift the regulation of crypto assets from payment law to securities law framework. According to Cointelegraph, Japan's Financial Services Agency (FSA) has released a report proposing to transfer the regulation of crypto assets from the Payment Services Act (PSA) to the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act (FIEA), treating them as investment products. This move will strengthen IEO disclosure requirements and grant regulators more power to crack down on unregistered platforms, particularly those overseas and DeFi-related projects, while also introducing provisions prohibiting insider trading. He Yi: I will personally distribute BNB airdrop compensation to users who suffered losses due to their WeChat accounts being hacked. Binance co-founder He Yi tweeted that his rarely used WeChat account was hacked in the early hours of the morning. The attacker used his WeChat Moments and messages to mislead users into buying a certain meme coin, causing them to lose money. He Yi stated that he would personally allocate a portion of his BNB to airdrop to users who traded the coin through Binance's keyless wallet and Alpha platform during the period his WeChat account was hacked and suffered "absolute losses" within 24 hours. He emphasized that he, official accounts, and Binance employees would not recommend any meme coins and warned that such tokens lack long-term price support, and similar subsidies would no longer be provided in the future. ETHZilla acquires a 15% stake in digital mortgage platform Zippy for approximately $21 million. According to an announcement on ETHZilla's official website, the company acquired a 15% stake in digital mortgage platform Zippy for approximately $21 million and reached an agreement to tokenize manufacturing housing loans as on-chain Real-Wait Investing (RWA). Zippy focuses on the US manufacturing housing market and raises $14 billion annually. This move will expand ETHZilla's RWA strategic footprint. For the next 36 months, Zippy's on-chain operations will exclusively utilize ETHZilla's platforms, including Liquidity.io, which is expected to provide institutional investors with on-chain access to bonds. Superstate launches an on-chain direct issuance solution, enabling companies to raise funds in stablecoins to issue tokenized shares. According to The Block, Superstate, led by Compound founder Robert Leshner, announced the launch of "Direct Issuance Programs," allowing publicly traded companies to raise funds directly from KYC-verified investors by issuing tokenized shares. Investors can pay with stablecoins for instant settlement. The service will run on Ethereum and Solana, with the first offering expected to launch in 2026. The program requires no underwriters, complies with SEC regulations, and aims to promote the on-chaining of capital markets. The Federal Reserve will announce its interest rate decision at 3:00 AM on Thursday, with the market expecting a 25 basis point rate cut. According to Jinshi Data, the Federal Reserve will announce its interest rate decision at 3:00 AM on Thursday, with the market expecting a 25 basis point cut to 3.50%-3.75%. A rare division has emerged within the FOMC, with some voting members potentially opposing further rate cuts. Due to the government shutdown, key October data is missing, and limited changes to the SEP and dot plot are expected. Regarding liquidity, the market is focused on whether a Reserve Management Bond-Buying Program (RMP) will be launched after the end of balance sheet reduction. Bank of America predicts that it may purchase approximately $45 billion in short-term Treasury bonds per month starting in January; if combined with MBS reinvestment, the scale could reach approximately $60 billion. If an RMP is announced, the focus of the meeting may shift to the balance sheet rather than the interest rate path. An early Ethereum address containing 850 ETH, dormant for over 10 years, has been activated. According to Whale Alert, an early pre-mining address containing 850 ETH was recently activated after 10.4 years of dormancy (transferring 1 ETH to Coinbase), and its current total value is approximately $2.81 million. This address's holdings were worth only $263 in 2015. American Bitcoin increased its holdings by 416 bitcoins, bringing its total holdings to 4,783 bitcoins. According to PR Newswire, American Bitcoin Corp. (NASDAQ: ABTC) disclosed that its Bitcoin reserves increased to 4,783 as of December 8, a 19.5% increase from November 5. The company also updated its "Satoshis Per Share (SPS)" to 507, a 17.3% increase within the month. Approximately 416 new Bitcoins were added between December 2 and 8, originating from self-mining and strategic purchases; some Bitcoins are in custody or used as collateral for mining equipment purchases with BITMAIN. BlackRock's IBIT transferred 2,100 BTC to Coinbase Prime. According to Solid Intel monitoring, a few minutes ago, BlackRock's Bitcoin spot ETF IBIT transferred a total of 2,100 BTC to Coinbase Prime, valued at approximately $193.9 million at the current price. The transfer was divided into seven transactions, each containing 300 BTC.

Newly-appointed Binance Co-CEO Yi He has seen her WeChat account hacked, with the attacker using it to promote a litte-known memecoin. Hacker Shilled Memecoin Mubarakah Using Binance Co-CEO’s WeChat Binance‘s new co-CEO Yi He fell prey to a social media hack Tuesday night, as founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao has shared in an X post. “Someone […]