Abid

Midnight is a privacy-focused smart contraact chain that blends UTXO (like bitcoin) with account style apps (like Ethereum)

You get two world:
1. Unshielded -> normal public state
2. Shielded -> fully private (balances, inputs, logic)

The interesting part is how it works, Contracts don't run on-chain.

You run them locally -> generate a ZK proof -> send the proof to the network.

Validators don't see your data, they just verify:
"This transaction followed the rules"

Under the hood:
- Commitments -> hashed coins
- Nullifiers -> unique hashes that prove a coin is spent, which prevents double spend
- Public transcript data -> minimal info needed for state updates
- ZK proof -> you own the coins (spend proof)
the contract execution was valid (contract proof)

So instead of, "show everything, then verify"
It's, "prove everything, show nothing"

That's what enables private DeFi, hidden balances and no front-running.

In the world of AI, I think I have still got this.

Cardano tokens can't be frozen or limited to verified holders. Once minted, they move freely.

Fine for open assets, a blocker for regulated ones like stablecoins and tokenized stocks.

CIP-0113 proposes a fix: programmable tokens. 🧵

Cardano can't do a 0.1 ADA payment today. Every output has to hold a minimum of about 1 ADA. So tiny payments and small wallet fees are impossible.

Dijkstra changes that with direct deposits (CIP-159).

Cardano’s Dijkstra upgrade introduces nested transactions (CIP-118).

A single top-level transaction can include multiple sub-transactions, each signed by different users, then validated together as one atomic batch.

Here’s what changes 🧵