“It’s Worth Giving Some Love”

Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson is proud and delighted that the public testnet of the Cardano sidechain, Midnight, is finally live.

The Midnight team announced the testnet arrival on Tuesday, declaring it is now time to start building. Accordingly, the team has invited blockchain developers across the globe to participate in the network’s evolution.

For context, Midnight is a data-protection sidechain for the Cardano network that aims to merge privacy with regulatory compliance. It is founded on the belief that developers must protect sensitive data to create commercially successful decentralized applications.

Midnight enables private transactions and dApps without compromising security by leveraging zero-knowledge cryptography.

While still in development, this new testnet will offer a secure and stable environment where developers can experiment with creating blockchain-based applications that safeguard sensitive information.

Midnight targets organizations and developers that value blockchain’s transparency while requiring a balance between data protection, ownership, and utilization.

With this testnet, the Midnight team is offering a dependable environment replicating a live mainnet’s conditions. This allows developers to build and test on Midnight with confidence. In making this possible, the team has expanded the network’s capabilities. It included hardening its codebase and reducing the need for frequent chain resets during upgrades.

Essentially, the launch of the public testnet marks a significant milestone for the Midnight team, bringing them closer to the live mainnet launch.

Cardano Founder Is Proud and Delighted

In response to the launch of the Midnight testnet, Charles Hoskinson expressed immense pride in the team’s efforts. He acknowledged that while many milestones lie ahead for the Cardano ecosystem, this particular achievement is significant and deserves recognition and appreciation.

“It’s worth giving some love their way,” he said

I’m extremely proud of the team. There are a lot of milestones ahead of us, but this one was a massive achievement, and it’s worth giving some love their way https://t.co/JM8mVuNzSy

— Charles Hoskinson (@IOHK_Charles) October 1, 2024

Build Apps with Midnight Testnet

Notably, Midnight also offers programmable data protection credentials, giving developers the flexibility to choose what data to share on-chain and what to keep confidential. 

According to the official release, its native programming language, Compact, based on Typescript, allows even those with limited blockchain experience to start writing smart contracts easily. Developers can send cryptographically secure proofs instead of sharing sensitive data directly.

Since the launch of devnet, Midnight has created various opportunities for community feedback and involvement, including a ticketing system on Discord and regular community calls. Upcoming hackathons will help developers learn how to leverage Midnight’s data protection features. 

To build on Midnight, developers need a suitable development environment, such as macOS, Linux, or Windows WSL. They also need resources to run a full node, proof server, and publish-subscriber indexer.