ADA Rally Soon? Cardano Launches Midnight Devnet, Marking a New Era
- Cardano (ADA) has enjoyed a fantastic month, up 45% in the past four weeks.
- Cardano’s new privacy protocol Midnight Network is officially live, operating as a sidechain/scaling solution to the main Cardano blockchain.
- ADA holders will likely be airdropped Midnight Network’s native token, DUST, in the coming months.
Cardano (ADA) is one of the most popular cryptocurrencies on the market, having sat in the top ten coins by market cap for well over a year. Positioned as a challenger to Ethereum’s DeFi throne, ADA has endured a middling year and is still down 87% from its peak. Despite the average returns, Cardano’s developers have remained incredibly active in the scene as the project has undergone several significant upgrades. As a result, the trend appears to be shifting, with ADA’s value skyrocketing 45% in the past month.
Privacy Blockchain Midnight Devnet Goes Live
IOG, the team behind the Cardano project, has officially released its latest development – the privacy-centric blockchain Midnight Network. It is considered a Cardano sidechain and will assist the main chain in safely and securely processing data. 100 developers have been selected to participate in the devnet’s early stages as a means to test its capabilities.
The name of the game for IOG and Midnight Network is privacy. The ever-evolving internet era has accelerated the amount of personal data each individual owns and has access to. The responsible use and storage of this information is paramount to creating a safe and accessible Web3 – and that’s exactly what Midnight Network intends to do. On top of this, the privacy solution will help Cardano with scalability as user activity and adoption ramp up.
Will Midnight Network’s Release Impact ADA Price?
The question on the tip of Cardano investors’ tongues is simple: What effect will the Midnight Network have on the value of ADA?
In the short term, ADA is actually down 0.3% in the past 24 hours. But it’s worth noting that the current release of Midnight Network is very limited and targeted at early adopters. The big push for price (whether positive or negative) will likely come due to the Midnight Network’s native token – DUST. Several executives at IOG, including Charles Hoskinson, have suggested that DUST tokens will eventually be airdropped to ADA holders.
The exact mechanism of DUST’s distribution is a little unclear, but it’s possible that investors will start accumulating ADA as a means to access DUST for free. If this is the case, it’s likely that the price of ADA will surge, although whether it will form part of a longer-term trend or will be short-lived remains to be seen.
Ben Knight
Ben Knight is a writer and editor from Melbourne with a passion for all things music and finance. He enjoys turning complex topics – especially the technical details of cryptocurrency – into digestible bites that anybody can understand. He acquired his Master’s in Writing, Editing and Publishing from RMIT in 2019 and has run his own creative writing business ever since.
