ADA's movement tracks closely with Bitcoin, which briefly reclaimed $97,000 and helped Cardano touch $0.45.
The altcoin also received a boost from Midnight, the privacy-focused sidechain that Charles Hoskinson introduced several months ago, whose native token NIGHT surged 200%.
Why It Matters: Privacy Meets Regulation
Midnight occupies unusual ground in the privacy coin sector. Unlike Monero and Zcash, the sidechain shields sensitive user data while maintaining compliance with regulatory requirements.
That hybrid approach has attracted both retail and institutional interest.
NIGHT now sits at #101 by market capitalization with just over $1 billion in value, while Cardano's main token hovers near the top 10. Coinbase recently added NIGHT perpetual futures, and trading volume reached $33.5 million Thursday compared with $727.55 million for ADA's main chain.
Alexey Bondarev is the Head of Content at Yellow.com, having reported on crypto for the last 10 years. He specializes in in-depth Research and Learn pieces, with a focus on analytical reporting, industry context, and the bigger forces shaping crypto, from the AI era and security technologies to fintech innovation. He believes that everything digital will imminently overcome everything analogue and is working hard to make that come true.
