Midnight USD

Cardano-linked privacy network Midnight has expanded its foothold in Japan with the listing of the NIGHT token on OKCoinJapan, the Japan branch of OK Group, the global cryptocurrency exchange conglomerate that includes OKX and OKCoin. The listing gives the Midnight network's NIGHT token a trading venue on a Japanese exchange operated by OK Group. OKCoinJapan is the Japan-facing arm of OK Group, whose broader exchange business spans OKX and OKCoin. No financial terms, trading volumes, or dates were disclosed in the announcement.

Crypto asset exchange OKJ announced on October 10 that it will begin handling NIGHT from the 13th. It is the first time a crypto asset exchange operator in Japan has offered NIGHT through order book trading. Order book trading sets prices through buy and sell orders placed between users, a different mechanism from a sales office where the exchange operator acts as the counterparty to trades. NIGHT itself was first handled in Japan by Sony Group's S.BLOX, which began offering it on August 24, making OKJ the second company in the country to do so; OKJ will offer it across four services: exchange, sales office, accumulation, and deposits and withdrawals. Amid growing interest in privacy-focused tokens, the price of NIGHT has more than doubled over the past month, with CoinMarketCap data showing a gain of about 133% in the month through early October. NIGHT is the token of Midnight, a privacy-focused blockchain whose development is led by Charles Hoskinson, the founder of Cardano.

NIGHT, the cryptocurrency of the blockchain Midnight led by Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson, jumped about 30% within 24 hours on October 1, pushing its weekly gain past 70% and lifting it from the 0.02-dollar range into the 0.04-dollar range. Its market capitalization stands at roughly 700 million dollars, ranking 80th, while 24-hour trading volume has topped 100 million dollars. Three main developments are behind the rally. First, Sebastien Guillemot, CTO of the Midnight Foundation, revealed on his X account on September 19 that the day is near when anyone can publish smart contracts on the mainnet. Second, the official X account of WallStreetBets, a U.S. retail investor community, highlighted NIGHT's price action on September 30, saying privacy is essential to the spread of cryptocurrencies. Third, privacy-focused tokens as a whole have been rising, with Zcash up about 65% over the past 30 days and its market capitalization at roughly 24 billion dollars, ranking ninth.

Sony Group's crypto asset exchange S.BLOX began handling NIGHT and Cardano on August 24. This marks the first time NIGHT has been handled by a domestic crypto asset exchange service provider in Japan. NIGHT is the native token of Midnight, a privacy-focused blockchain developed by Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson. The NIGHT listed this time is initially issued on the Cardano network, and after the native chain becomes operational, NIGHT on Cardano and NIGHT on Midnight will circulate at a one-to-one ratio.

Charles Hoskinson, founder of Cardano, said at the 2026 Wyoming Blockchain Symposium that artificial intelligence and agentic commerce will be the key to bringing the next billion users into crypto and fueling a new bull market. He expects AI agent technology to become a major part of the economy by 2030, and revealed that Midnight will launch trading through AI agents before the end of 2026, allowing users to create wallets for AI agents and provision tokens to trade across platforms. Hoskinson also noted that interoperability between blockchains is increasing, and the industry must move beyond old narratives about speed and cost to deliver tangible everyday benefits to billions of users.