Charles Hoskinson’s Midnight NIGHT Surges 159% After Biggest Crash

Charles Hoskinson’s Midnight project is making a strong comeback after one of its worst crashes due to a bridge exploit. NIGHT has surged 159% through September and early October, reaching $0.048, its highest level in six months.The recovery comes after an 87% collapse and a major Midnight network upgrade that is now live.Reasons Behind NIGHT Token Price RallyThe primary reason behind NIGHT’s rally is Midnight’s latest mainnet upgrade. On Oct. 2, 2026, permissionless smart contract deployment went live on Midnight’s mainnet, allowing developers to deploy contracts freely and create them through code.The upgrade removes a major barrier for developers and could bring more applications to the network. As activity grows, demand for NIGHT, which is used for network fees and security, could also increase.The upgrade follows Midnight’s move from its Devnet toward an open public testnet, giving developers more room to test its data-protection features.Another reason is the growing interest in Midnight’s privacy technology. Its use of Zero-Knowledge proofs allows private information to remain protected in smart contracts.This gives Midnight potential use cases in areas such as finance and identity, where both privacy and compliance are important.Hoskinson’s Zcash Comparison Boosts SentimentInterest in NIGHT also grew after Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson said Midnight could become bigger than Zcash in private smart contracts.Weiss has stepped up its game lately. Midnight will be bigger than ZCash: selective disclosure, Private Agents, Abstraction with a DeFi Kernel for all major chains, ZK + TEE + MPC, and Cardano's 24/7 uptime combined with the magic of Leios. LFG 2027 He pointed to Midnight’s selective disclosure, private agents, and DeFi kernel, along with its use of ZK, TEE, and MPC technologies.Hoskinson said the project is targeting 2027 for delivery, rather than giving a price target. His comments have added to the attention around Midnight as NIGHT continues its sharp rally.NIGHT Faces $0.048 ResistanceLooking at the NIGHT token rally, it is now testing the $0.0485 area, which has become the immediate resistance after the latest rally. However, holding above $0.044 could allow the token to retest $0.048.Meanwhile, a break above that level could extend the current momentum, while losing $0.044 could expose NIGHT to a pullback toward $0.040.For now, the main focus remains whether Midnight’s new smart contract activity can support the strong recovery in NIGHT.