Midnight, the privacy-enhancing L1, and first partner chain to Cardano, is now queryable, visualizable, and exportable through Dune. Network activity, NIGHT token flows, and the public state of shielded applications, verifiable in one place.
What is Midnight?
Midnight is a privacy-enhancing blockchain incubated by Input Output and launched as the first partner chain to the Cardano ecosystem. It is built for applications that need confidentiality and verifiability at the same time: regulated finance, identity, and business workflows where fully public ledgers are a dealbreaker. Its model is "rational privacy": data stays private by default, with selective disclosure through zero-knowledge proofs when a rule, regulator, or counterparty requires it.
Key design points:
- Programmable privacy: a hybrid ledger separates public and shielded state, so developers choose exactly what stays private, what is visible, and what can be proven without revealing the underlying data.
- Selective disclosure: auditors, regulators, or counterparties can verify compliance cryptographically without gaining access to the full dataset.
- Dual-component tokenomics model: NIGHT is the unshielded native token used for governance, block production rewards, and incentives. Holding NIGHT generates DUST, a shielded, non-transferable resource that pays for transactions, decoupling network costs from token price volatility.
- Built for developers: smart contracts are written in Compact, a TypeScript-based language, opening privacy-preserving development to the broader web developer pool.
- Institutional footing: the federated mainnet launched with node operators including Worldpay, MoneyGram, Pairpoint by Vodafone, eToro, Google Cloud, and Blockdaemon.
Midnight Data on Dune
Midnight's design makes a clear distinction: shielded data stays with the user, while the network's public state is open for verification. Dune provides a standardized, queryable view into that public state, so analysts, institutions, and the Midnight community can examine:
- Network activity: transactions, blocks, fees, and throughput as the network moves through its post-launch phases.
- NIGHT token flows: transfers, holder distribution, and movement of the unshielded native token across the network.
- DUST resource generation and consumption: the public side of Midnight's fee model, including DUST generation tied to NIGHT holdings, aggregate consumption from network usage, and decay over time. Individual shielded transactions stay private; the resource economics of the network do not.
- Adoption and ecosystem growth: active addresses, contract deployments, and usage of applications built with Compact.
- Block production: validator activity and reward distribution as the network progresses toward decentralization.
Resources
- Get started with Midnight data on Dune
- How to create Dune Dashboards
- Access Midnight data through Dune MCP, with no code required
- Midnight documentation
