Midnight, the privacy-focused blockchain developed by the Cardano team, processed 96,851 transactions on November 10, significantly outpacing Zcash's 24,160 transactions the same day, according to data shared by market commentary account MSB Intel.
The transaction volume gap has widened over longer timeframes. Across the past 30 days, Midnight completed 1,487,836 transactions compared to Zcash's 308,050.
Token Performance Diverges
The native tokens of the two privacy platforms have moved in different directions. At the time of reporting, NIGHT was trading near $0.047, up more than 9% in 24 hours, 11% over seven days, and over 21% across two weeks. The 30-day performance was relatively flat, with a 0.1% gain.
Zcash's ZEC token showed weaker performance, trading near $980—approximately 19% lower than one month prior, 25% below its level from a week ago, and more than 42% below its multi-year high of around $1,700 reached approximately two months ago. The decline pushed ZEC's market capitalization to about $16.6 billion, removing it from the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market cap.
Context From Hoskinson's September Statement
Charles Hoskinson, founder of Cardano and a leading figure behind Midnight, predicted in September that Midnight would eventually become bigger than Zcash. At that time, NIGHT was trading near $0.027 and ZEC near $1,600.
Since September, NIGHT has gained approximately 72%, while ZEC has declined around 38% from its September level.
Hoskinson commented on the latest activity figures, stating: "Midnight is growing. Private Smart contracts are the future."
