NIGHT Token Surge: The Privacy Computing Narrative Behind the $8 Billion Trading Volume

Midnight’s native network token NIGHT experienced a significant surge in price and trading volume at the end of December. According to Gate market data, NIGHT recently showed strong momentum, with its 24-hour trading volume reaching a peak of approximately $8 billion in late December, making it the fourth-largest cryptocurrency by global trading volume at that time.

The market generally believes that this rally was driven by the upcoming stablecoin partnership, large-scale Glacier airdrops, and a renewed focus on privacy computing as a core narrative.

Market Performance: Explosive Growth in Trading Volume and Ranking

In December 2025, the NIGHT token staged an impressive market comeback. Its 24-hour trading volume first surpassed $1 billion mid-month, then soared to nearly $8 billion by the end of the month. This figure temporarily outpaced established assets like XRP, placing it among the top four cryptocurrencies globally by trading volume.

Unlike many new tokens that collapse in price due to insider sell-offs after launch, NIGHT continued to see its trading volume grow after initial market attention, rather than shrinking. This sustained high liquidity attracted more traders, creating a positive feedback loop. Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson called NIGHT’s early achievement of $1 billion in trading volume “absolutely extraordinary.”

Core Drivers: Technological Narrative and Major Progress

NIGHT’s market enthusiasm is not without foundation; it is supported by a solid technological vision and a series of ecosystem developments. Midnight is positioned as a programmable privacy network, not just a short-term speculative asset or meme coin. Its core innovation lies in the concept of “rational privacy”—allowing users and applications to selectively disclose information under encrypted proofs that maintain data integrity. This privacy protection, achieved through zero-knowledge proofs and a hybrid dual-state architecture, aims to serve enterprise, identity systems, and compliant decentralized finance applications. Market analysts believe this feature could attract institutional capital seeking verifiable privacy.

A recent key catalyst was the Midnight Foundation revealing it is reviewing a legal agreement for a stablecoin partnership. Although the partner’s name has not been disclosed, the market interpreted this as a significant validation of Midnight’s enterprise use cases, directly boosting demand expectations for NIGHT.

Glacier Airdrop: The Most Complex Token Distribution in History

Launched in August 2025, the “Glacier Airdrop” was the primary event that brought NIGHT into widespread circulation and drew attention. Known for its complexity and scope, this airdrop covered eight major blockchain ecosystems, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Cardano, XRP, Solana, and others, distributing NIGHT governance tokens to nearly 37 million compliant addresses.

Unlike many projects that allocate most tokens to venture capital firms, Midnight’s airdrop explicitly excluded VCs, with all tokens distributed only to retail users. This approach aims to achieve a broader, more decentralized token distribution and establish a solid user base for the network. The technical execution of the airdrop also demonstrated Cardano’s technological capabilities. The distribution process utilized Cardano’s layer-2 scaling solution Hydra to handle massive claim requests, followed by settlement on the mainnet.

Charles Hoskinson himself described it as “possibly the most complex infrastructure in the history of cryptocurrency issuance.”

Ecosystem Relations: Cardano’s Strategic Bet and Market Divergence

Midnight’s relationship with the Cardano ecosystem is both a key support and a source of community controversy. As a privacy sidechain promoted by Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson, Midnight is seen as a strategic extension of Cardano’s vision into privacy and cross-chain interoperability. On the positive side, success for Midnight could benefit the entire Cardano ecosystem. Analysts suggest that its compliant privacy features could attract institutional capital, significantly increasing Cardano’s DeFi total value locked (TVL). Some predict that by 2025, Cardano’s DeFi TVL could increase tenfold.

However, there is controversy. To fund the infrastructure of the Midnight network, the Cardano treasury withdrew about 70 million ADA (worth approximately $25.7 million at the time).

This move sparked questions within the community about resource allocation and direct benefit mechanisms. Critics argue that the funds are being used to build an independent Layer-1 network, with unclear return pathways for ADA holders.

Market Data and Price Analysis

Based on Gate market data, we can review NIGHT’s recent market performance. Despite volatility, the high trading activity in December is one of its most notable features.

Price Forecast for 2026

Key Price Levels Analysis

• Immediate resistance: $0.095 - $0.100 is a critical short-term resistance zone. A volume breakout could open upward potential.
• Important support: $0.080 is a key psychological and technical support. Falling below could lead to further declines toward $0.071 or $0.045.

Core Factors Influencing Future Price

NIGHT’s price is determined by multiple forces, not a single factor. Besides the market views above, the following key variables will influence its long-term trajectory:

1. Token supply and unlock schedule: An initial circulating supply of up to 16.6 billion tokens, with about 7.4 billion more to be released by 2026 under the Glacier plan. Whether market demand can absorb this additional supply is critical for price stabilization.
2. Technological development and mainnet launch: The planned federation mainnet in Q1 2026 is the biggest positive catalyst. The actual performance and adoption of core features like privacy smart contracts will be key to assessing project value and attracting new capital.
3. Market and regulatory environment: Overall crypto market risk appetite will directly impact liquidity for emerging assets like NIGHT. As a privacy protocol, its regulatory stance worldwide also introduces uncertainty.

A noteworthy dynamic is that, after NIGHT’s token release and market enthusiasm, the futures market for Cardano’s mainnet token ADA showed signs of waning retail interest. Data indicates a decline in open interest and a shift to negative funding rates, suggesting derivatives traders are holding bearish positions or reducing leverage. This reveals capital rotation and sentiment divergence across related assets.

As of December 31, based on Gate data, NIGHT’s price experienced significant volatility, and the market is now assessing its new valuation point. On Gate’s daily chart, traders are watching several key technical levels to gauge the next collective move. Global regulatory attitudes toward privacy coins and the actual developer adoption after Midnight’s mainnet launch will be crucial in determining whether market enthusiasm can translate into long-term ecosystem value.