Is Midnight (NIGHT) Catching Up With Zcash (ZEC)? Network Data Offers a Clue
Midnight, the privacy-focused blockchain developed by the Cardano team, processed over 96,000 transactions on November 10, more than four times Zcash's 24,000 transactions on the same day.
Market data reveals a significant shift in the privacy coin landscape, with Midnight's transaction volume dramatically surpassing that of established privacy coin Zcash. On November 10, Midnight processed 96,851 transactions compared to Zcash's 24,160, a more than fourfold difference.
The gap extends beyond a single day, with Midnight completing 1,487,836 transactions over the past 30 days versus just 308,050 for Zcash. This surge in activity comes as Midnight's native token NIGHT has gained value, rising to around $0.047 with a 9% increase in 24 hours.
Price Performance Divergence
While Midnight's activity has increased, its token price has followed suit, with NIGHT up 11% in the last week and over 21% in two weeks. In contrast, ZEC has fallen 19% in the past month, dropping below the $1,000 psychological mark and falling out of the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market cap.
ZEC is currently trading near $980, 25% lower than a week ago and more than 42% below its multi-year high of around $1,700 reached about two months ago. Though NIGHT is still 60% below its December 2025 all-time high, ZEC is nearly 69% below its ATH from 10 years ago.
Hoskinson's Vision
The recent performance adds context to founder Charles Hoskinson's September prediction that Midnight would become "bigger than Zcash." At that time, NIGHT traded near $0.027 while ZEC stood near $1,600, giving Midnight a 72% price increase since then compared to ZEC's 38% decline.
Midnight is growing. Private Smart contracts are the future.
Hoskinson previously outlined Midnight's advantages, including "Selective disclosure, Private Agents, abstraction with a DeFi Kernel for all major chains," along with privacy techniques like zero-knowledge proofs and trusted execution environments.
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