Midnight Gains Momentum After Mainnet, Partnership Reveal

TheNewsCryptoPublished on 2026-02-12Last updated on 2026-02-12

Abstract

Midnight, a data protection blockchain platform, has gained significant market attention following announcements by founder Charles Hoskinson at the Consensus Hong Kong conference. Key developments include the scheduled mainnet launch in late March and partnerships with major companies like Google and Telegram. Although neither partner has officially confirmed the collaboration, Hoskinson stated they will support Midnight’s infrastructure. The project also introduced the Midnight City Simulation, a testing platform using AI to stress-test the network. In response, Midnight’s native token, NIGHT, saw a 3-4% price increase, reflecting renewed investor interest. The mainnet launch, featuring zero-knowledge proofs and "rational privacy," is anticipated as a major market catalyst. Hoskinson emphasized that Midnight aims for broad adoption rather than targeting existing privacy coin communities like Monero or ZCash.

Midnight, a data protection blockchain platform, witnessed surged market interest this week, followed by the founder Charles Hoskinson’s announcement of prominent developments at the Consensus Hong Kong conference.

The announcement includes the scheduled mainnet rollout of the project in late March and partnerships comprising Google and Telegram. The remarks of the founder underline the evolution of Midnight toward a selective disclosure privacy layer for blockchain applications, balancing secrecy with real-world compliance.

Hoskinson has stated that, “We have some great partnerships to help us run it, and Google is one of them; Telegram is another. We are really excited that there is more that will come.

However, neither Google nor Telegram has officially accepted the deal; Hoskinson has stated that they are among the partners aiding support for the launch and infrastructure of Midnight. The announcement also rolled out the Midnight City Simulation, a testing platform aimed to stress-test network proof generation with AI agents well before mainnet.

The Positive Change

The native token of Midnight, NIGHT, has replied positively to the news and is exchanging hands at around $0.048-$0.051 at the time of writing with modest short-term gains. As per the live price data, the token is up around 3-4% in the last 24 hours, representing renewed investor appetite after the collaboration and mainnet timeline revelation.

The complete mainnet launch of Midnight, anticipated in March as a Cardano (ADA) partner chain having zero-knowledge proofs and “rational privacy” features, is now the upcoming major catalyst for the global market.

Hoskinson has also clarified that Midnight will not chase direct onboarding of legacy privacy coin communities, like Monero, but rather aim for wider user adoption. In the question and answer session at Consensus Hong Kong on February 11, he mentioned that “you don’t try to get anybody from Monero or ZCash over.”

Highlighted Crypto News Today:

Uniswap (UNI) Volume Soars 500%, Will the Recent Spike Turn Into a Breakout?

Who Will Take Over After SpaceX's IPO?

SpaceX is set to go public on June 12 with a $1.8 trillion valuation, but only about 5.56 billion shares (4.2% of the total) will be initially available for trading. Buy-side pressure is expected in three distinct waves. First, the IPO subscription at a fixed $135 per share, which is oversubscribed by nearly 4 times. Second, immediate secondary market trading post-listing. Third, and most significant, the forced buying by passive index funds. The Nasdaq 100 index has modified its rules to include SpaceX just 15 trading days after its IPO, despite its small float, which will compel hundreds of tracking funds to buy large quantities of stock. However, this initial supply shortage will not last. A staged lock-up release is designed for the approximately 54% of shares held by VCs, early employees, and other insiders (excluding Elon Musk's 42%, which is locked for 366 days). Releases begin after the Q2 earnings report, with subsequent unlocks at multiple intervals up to 180 days post-IPO. This means selling pressure from insiders will gradually increase throughout the latter half of the year. A key counterbalance is scheduled for mid-December during the Nasdaq 100's annual rebalancing. By then, the public float will have expanded significantly, forcing index funds to buy more shares, potentially providing institutional support after months of insider selling.

marsbit26m ago

marsbit26m ago

Anthropic Apologized, But the Business of 'Safety' Hasn't Stopped

On June 11, Anthropic apologized not for a model failure, but for a lack of transparency. Its new Claude Fable 5 model was found to be secretly rerouting requests from users engaged in advanced AI model development to a weaker version, Opus 4.8, without any notification. The company's response—promising future notifications for such "downgrades"—was met with user skepticism. The article argues the core issue isn't technical but commercial: Anthropic's "safety" measures are primarily a business strategy. A key feature, the "intelligent safety classifier," marketed as user protection, is described as a tool for "competitive defense" to protect Anthropic's market lead by limiting rivals' research capabilities. This covert mechanism was designed for low "false positives," precisely targeting AI researchers. Anthropic's model involves a calculated three-step process: publishing alarming security research to amplify public anxiety, offering its Fable 5 model with a "safety classifier" as a premium-priced solution, and cashing in through a planned high-value IPO. This contrasts with OpenAI's more direct "tool-and-traffic" approach. The apology, merely changing a secret downgrade to a visible one, is seen as a business "patch" rather than a principled shift. The incident risks damaging Anthropic's "safest AI" reputation among the developer community, which underpins its valuation and appeal to government and corporate clients. Ultimately, the article concludes that for Anthropic, safety is a business, and the apology is merely customer service for that business.

marsbit45m ago

Anthropic Apologized, But the Business of 'Safety' Hasn't Stopped

marsbit45m ago

The Niche Consensus Among Elites: Has College Become an Expensive Waste?

**Summary:** A growing "anti-college" movement is gaining traction among elite circles in Silicon Valley, challenging the traditional value of a four-year university degree. Proponents argue that college has become an expensive, slow, and increasingly irrelevant waste of time, especially in the fast-paced tech world where opportunities pass by quickly. The movement is led by figures like billionaire Peter Thiel, who criticizes universities for high costs, ideological indoctrination, and stifling true innovation. His "Thiel Fellowship" pays young people to drop out and pursue ventures. Companies like Palantir Technologies (co-founded by Thiel) fuel this trend with programs like the "Meritocracy Fellowship," which offers high school graduates paid internships as an alternative to immediate college enrollment, promising a practical "Palantir Degree." Key drivers include: 1. **Economics:** Skyrocketing student debt versus the allure of immediate, high-paying tech jobs or startup funding. 2. **Technology:** AI and online tools lowering barriers to self-education and product development, making formal instruction seem inefficient. 3. **Culture:** A backlash against perceived "woke" ideology and DEI policies in universities, coupled with a belief that these institutions suppress meritocracy and masculine drive. The movement is notably male-dominated. Critics, like economist David Deming, warn against overgeneralizing from dropout success stories (survivorship bias). He emphasizes that genuine autodidacts are rare, corporate training is narrowly focused, and the "college wage premium" remains high for most people. University liberal arts education, he argues, builds adaptable problem-solving skills and broad perspectives. The debate highlights a deeper crisis in education. The core model of the modern university appears increasingly mismatched with the speed of the information age. The movement signals a shift in the locus of learning from institutional "education" to personal, active "learning" powered by the internet and AI. Ultimately, this may not mean the end of university, but rather a painful evolution. The future likely holds more hybrid, personalized, and lifelong learning pathways. The central question becomes: in a world changing faster than any curriculum, how do we best learn?

marsbit1h ago

The Niche Consensus Among Elites: Has College Become an Expensive Waste?

marsbit1h ago

From Subsidies to Token-Based Pricing to Price Cuts: Is OpenAI Sparking a Price War? Is the Inflection Point for Token Economics Nearing?

The commercialization of generative AI is facing a critical inflection point as a potential price war looms. According to The Wall Street Journal, OpenAI is considering a significant cut to its token fees to compete with rival Anthropic, signaling a shift from a growth-at-all-costs model focused on token consumption. This move comes as both companies, reportedly losing billions on compute, prepare for IPOs, and as enterprise customers face "bill shock" from switching to usage-based token billing. Reports indicate poor ROI, with one analysis finding only 18 cents of every dollar spent on AI tokens generates user-facing value. The industry's initial phases—from flat-rate subscriptions to aggressive subsidies—have given way to a reckoning with real costs. Analysts debate the future: some predict a bifurcation between premium, high-cost models for complex tasks and cheaper alternatives for routine work, while others believe overall spending will still rise as agentic AI increases tokens per task. Notably, Chinese model DeepSeek's low-cost API is gaining traction with U.S. enterprises, adding competitive pressure. The core challenge is redefining value beyond token volume ("tokenmaxxing") toward measurable productivity ("valuemaxxing"), as the entire AI value chain, from cloud providers to chipmakers, feels the ripple effects of unsustainable pricing.

marsbit1h ago

From Subsidies to Token-Based Pricing to Price Cuts: Is OpenAI Sparking a Price War? Is the Inflection Point for Token Economics Nearing?

marsbit1h ago

The Bitcoin 400-Day Cycle: Historical Performance Shows How Low The Bottom Goes

A crypto analyst forecasts a continued Bitcoin bear market, predicting a potential price bottom around October 2026 based on a historical 400-day cycle pattern. The analysis suggests Bitcoin is currently 252 days into a bear phase that typically lasts 364-400 days, indicating another 112-148 days of downward pressure. The projected cycle low could be around $30,000, representing a more than 75% decline from recent all-time highs near $126,000. The analyst dismisses arguments that current market factors like ETFs make this cycle different, noting the pattern has held for over a decade. Another expert aligns, forecasting a bottom between $30,000-$40,000 by late Q3 or early Q4 2026 and rejecting the possibility of Bitcoin reaching $100,000 this year.

bitcoinist1h ago

The Bitcoin 400-Day Cycle: Historical Performance Shows How Low The Bottom Goes

bitcoinist1h ago

Trading

Spot

Futures

Midnight Gains Momentum After Mainnet, Partnership Reveal

Abstract

The Positive Change

Related Questions

Related Reads

Who Will Take Over After SpaceX's IPO?

Anthropic Apologized, But the Business of 'Safety' Hasn't Stopped

The Niche Consensus Among Elites: Has College Become an Expensive Waste?

From Subsidies to Token-Based Pricing to Price Cuts: Is OpenAI Sparking a Price War? Is the Inflection Point for Token Economics Nearing?

The Bitcoin 400-Day Cycle: Historical Performance Shows How Low The Bottom Goes

Trading