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Cardano Midnight Posts 9,100% Transaction Surge After Smart Contract Deployment

source-logo  u.today 09 October 2026 12:41, UTC
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Cardano-linked privacy-focused blockchain Midnight saw a 9,117% transaction surge in just days following the deployment of smart contracts on its mainnet.

Permissionless smart contracts went live on the Midnight mainnet on September 28, allowing developers to write and deploy smart contracts directly without a required security review on Preprod, marking a major milestone for the network.

The launch allows applications to deploy contracts on behalf of end users, streamlining user onboarding. This expanded operational capacity creates direct opportunities across decentralized finance tools, gaming applications, and custom privacy products built through partner development work.

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🚨 MASSIVE GROWTH: +9,100% TX SURGE ON MIDNIGHT! 🚨 Since the deployment of Midnight mainnet smart contracts, network activity hasn't just grown-it has absolutely EXPLODED! 🚀 Let the numbers speak for themselves over the past 7 days: 📉 Oct 1st: A quiet 284 Txs. 📈 Oct 8th: A staggering 26,178 Txs. 🤯 That is a 91x increase (9,117%+) in just ONE WEEK! The demand for Zero-Knowledge smart contracts (built with Compact) is undeniably real. Builders are shipping, and users are testing the limits of on-chain privacy. We are witnessing the early stages of a massive narrative shift.

— Midnight Explorer (@midnightexplr) October 8, 2026

Now, days after the launch of smart contracts, Midnight Explorer, a block explorer and analytics platform for Midnight Network, highlights massive growth, recording an over 9,100% transaction surge.

Midnight Explorer noted that since the deployment of Midnight mainnet smart contracts, network activity hasn't just grown, but it has exploded.

Midnight processed just 284 transactions on October 1, but by October 8, this figure had climbed to 26,178 transactions, an increase of more than 91 times, a 9,117% rise in just one week.

Midnight expands to Solana

This week, Midnight Foundation CTO Sebastien Guillemot announced a move that brings on-chain privacy to Solana. Midnight's v9 ledger upgrade is bringing private DeFi directly to Solana wallets, with no separate installs required.

This integration will bring private swaps and shielded tokens, sponsored dApp fees for SOL users (powered by NIGHT's dual-token model), and direct interaction with private DeFi.

According to Guillemot, Solana users will be able to do private swaps and interact with private DeFi directly from their Solana wallets with no separate install required. While currently on testnet, the mainnet release is planned with the Midnight Ledger v9 upgrade later this year.

Cardano mainnet welcomes improvements

In its weekly report, Cardano builder Input Output highlighted improvements for the network, including the release of Ouroboros consensus versions 5.0 and 5.1.0.0.

Plutus 1.71.0.0 was released, which includes the full Plutus V4 script context, which will be integrated into node release 11.2, and adds Plutus Core language version 1.2.0 along with cost models for keepPolicies and dropPolicies (CIP-0168).

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