Cardano’s Midnight Upgrade Promises Zero-Fee NFT Trading—Founder Drops Crypto-Bait

Charles Hoskinson just lit the fuse on Cardano’s next big play. The Midnight upgrade—slated for 2025—will let users trade NFTs without bleeding gas fees, a move that could undercut Ethereum’s creaky royalty model.

Why this matters:
Free trades aren’t just a perk—they’re a direct challenge to the ’extract-first, build-later’ ethos plaguing crypto infrastructure. But let’s see if the math works before Wall Street ’advisors’ repackage this as the next yield-bearing synthetic asset.

The catch?
Midnight’s privacy features might spook regulators already eyeing crypto like hawks circling a wounded stablecoin. Game-changing innovation or compliance nightmare? The chain won’t lie.

Instead of paying fees with ADA, users could hold a special NFT that allows daily transactions without spending any tokens. If implemented, this could attract more users who are used to free Web2 services. 

Meanwhile, Midnight has been seeing active development since announced. The launch date has not been announced yet, but the protocol is already seeing interest through hackathons, and engagement from the community. 

The Midnight is generally designed to bring privacy and regulatory compliance together with the help of advanced tools like zero-knowledge proofs and smart contracts.

Between December and January, a Midnight community survey showed that 12% of participants identified as blockchain developers. A further 39% described themselves as “seasoned pros,” while 46% considered themselves “somewhat experienced.” Only 15% said they were still learning, according to the recent Midnight’s “State of the Network” report from March 2025. 

Meanwhile, cardano (ADA) is surging fast, now trading for $0.82. This is a 4.51% jump record in the last 24 hours with a 32% increase in trading volume over the same period, according to CoinMarketCap.

Also Read: Peter Schiff Warns Strategy of Huge Loss Amid $1.34B Bitcoin Buy