Midnight Network Mainnet Goes Live With 9 Partners Including Google Cloud
Midnight Network, the privacy-focused partner chain built alongside Cardano, officially launched its mainnet on March 31, 2026. Nine institutional federated node operators are securing the network — including Google Cloud, Blockdaemon, Worldpay, MoneyGram, and Vodafone — with Monument Bank announcing plans to tokenize up to £250 million in retail deposits on the chain.
Midnight Network, the privacy-focused partner chain built alongside Cardano, officially launched its mainnet on March 31, 2026. The genesis block was produced and confirmed, with Charles Hoskinson announcing over 163,000 blocks mined within the initial launch window. Nine institutional federated node operators are securing the network: Google Cloud, Blockdaemon, Worldpay, Bullish, MoneyGram, Pairpoint (Vodafone), eToro, AlphaTON Capital, and Shielded Technologies.
The current phase — codenamed Kukolu — uses a permissioned federated validator set to prioritize network stability and regulatory comfort for institutional partners. The next phase, Mohalu, will open block production to Cardano stake pool operators (SPOs), moving Midnight toward full decentralization. That transition is targeted for Q2 2026.
The headline partnership is Monument Bank, a Bank of England-regulated UK lender, which announced plans to tokenize up to £250 million ($335M) in retail deposits on Midnight — the first time a UK-regulated bank has deployed on a public blockchain while maintaining FCA deposit insurance protection. Midnight's programmable privacy model uses selective disclosure via zero-knowledge proofs, allowing Monument to prove compliance attributes to regulators without exposing client data.