Cardano’s privacy sidechain Midnight Network has begun browser-based mining of the native NIGHT token, and there is already significant participation. According to Midnight Foundation CTO Sebastien Guillemot, more than 1 million Cardano addresses are currently being mined on NIGHT.
How to mine NIGHT tokens
The second phase, called “Scavenger Mine,” will go live on October 29 and run for about 20 days. Anyone with a Cardano wallet, a desktop or laptop browser, and internet access can now participate in Mining Night. Users do not need any special equipment or technical setup to mine NIGHT tokens.
Participants follow a short browser-based workflow on Midnight’s official website.
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Select the destination address, a valid Cardano address to receive the mined tokens.
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I agree to the Token End User Terms – I agree to the rules governing NIGHT distribution.
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Solve your encryption challenges. It’s a basic browser-based task that validates activity and distributes tokens fairly.
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View submitted solutions and track completed assignments and earned assignments.
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Once this phase ends, the redemption period begins. Users can claim and redeem quotas earned during both Glacier Drop (first distribution round) and the current Scavenger Mine phase.
Prior to Scavenger Mine, Midnight held a Glacier Drop event from August 5th to October 20th, distributing approximately 250 million NIGHT tokens across eight blockchains. Over 11,000 users participated in this phase.
Glacier Drop has now ended, and Scavenger Mine will serve as a follow-up distribution stage with an emphasis on open participation.
Why midnight matters to Cardano
Midnight is a sidechain built and maintained by Input Output Global (IOG), the same company that powers Cardano’s core development. Unlike typical third-party projects, it serves as an infrastructure layer designed to extend Cardano’s capabilities into data privacy, compliance, and sensitive computation.
Midnight uses zero-knowledge proofs (ZK technology) to enable selective disclosure, allowing users to verify their data and identity without revealing personal information. This makes it suitable for decentralized finance (DeFi), identity verification, and enterprise applications that require KYC and regulatory compliance. These are features that major Cardano chains do not natively support.
Additionally, the project is framed as a way for Cardano to bridge transparency and privacy, giving developers the tools to build open and compliant blockchain applications.
Cardano founder and IOG CEO Charles Hoskinson has been openly promoting the project, encouraging users to claim NIGHT tokens and mine them through the Scavenger Mine interface. He called Midnight a core privacy layer within the Cardano ecosystem and urged the team to accelerate its development.
Among other things, Hoskinson’s goal is for Midnight to become the leading privacy smart contract platform by 2026. He also mentioned the potential for integrating Midnight’s zero-knowledge infrastructure with privacy-driven web services such as Brave Ads and Brave VPN, demonstrating potential for crossover with real-world privacy tools.