## Midnight's Four-Moon Journey: Hoskinson Maps Privacy Blockchain's Path to Mainnet

Privacy is having a moment in crypto, and Cardano Founder Charles Hoskinson is betting big on it. His latest project, Midnight—what he calls his "second kid" after Cardano itself—is moving from concept to reality, with a clear roadmap that spans the next four quarters. The privacy-focused blockchain is preparing for its official launch, with the NIGHT token set to debut on December 8.

At the Midnight summit, Hoskinson revealed a meticulously structured ecosystem roadmap organized into four phases, each named after stages of the Hawaiian lunar cycle. This isn't just poetic naming; each phase represents a critical milestone in transforming Midnight from its current state into a fully operational mainnet.

**Phase One: Hilo—The First NIGHT (Q4 2025 onwards)**

The journey begins with Hilo, symbolizing new beginnings and visible growth. This foundational phase is already underway, focusing on building the essential smart contracts and minting the NIGHT token directly on the Cardano network. A crucial 4.5 billion token distribution is the linchpin of this stage, creating the necessary liquidity and access for the token's eventual exchange listings. This groundwork is essential before Midnight can open its doors to broader participation.

**Phase Two: Kūkolu—Launching from Safe Harbor (Q1 2026)**

The second stage shifts focus to technical validation. The Genesis block—a significant technical milestone—marks the transition point where Midnight moves from testnet to something approaching live network status. Kūkolu represents the safe launch of core infrastructure, ensuring stability before broader expansion.

**Phase Three: Mōhalu—Widening the Circle (Q2 2026)**

Network participation expands during Mōhalu, drawing in more users and developers to build on Midnight's privacy-preserving architecture. This phase broadens the ecosystem beyond its foundation, introducing real use cases and application development.

**Phase Four: Hua—Hybrid Possibilities (Q3 2026)**

The final phase brings Hybrid dApps to life, representing a matured ecosystem where privacy-native applications can operate across Cardano and Midnight. This completion stage marks Midnight's evolution into a fully realized privacy blockchain with practical applications.

Hoskinson's positioning of privacy as the narrative of this cycle signals a strategic shift. While Cardano has focused on infrastructure and interoperability, Midnight zeros in on what many see as crypto's next frontier—user privacy at the protocol level. With this four-phase approach, the Cardano ecosystem is signaling that privacy infrastructure, not hype, will drive value in the coming cycle.