Decentralized finance on Midnight took a step forward in August. The Midnight Foundation's August 2026 State of the Network update highlighted two launches that expand what traders and everyday users can do on the network.
Ascend Brings the First Perpetual Futures to Midnight
Ascend launched a verifiable events perpetuals exchange and an orderbook spot DEX on Midnight. According to the Foundation, these are the first perpetual futures on the protocol, with settlement spanning Cardano, EVM chains and Solana.
Some quick definitions:
Perpetual futures (perps): Contracts that let traders bet on whether a price will go up or down, without an expiry date. They carry high risk and are not suitable for everyone.
Spot DEX: A decentralized exchange where you buy and sell tokens for immediate delivery.
Orderbook: A list of buy and sell offers at different prices, similar to how traditional stock exchanges work.
Privacy is especially valuable in trading. On fully public chains, bots can watch pending orders and trade ahead of them. Midnight's design aims to reduce that exposure.
Sundae Labs Lets Users Pay Fees in USDM
Sundae Labs introduced the Capacity Exchange, which lets users pay transaction fees in USDM instead of DUST on supported apps. USDM is a stablecoin backed one to one by U.S. dollars. Normally, Midnight fees are paid in DUST, a private resource generated by holding NIGHT. The Capacity Exchange gives people another option if they do not hold NIGHT yet.
Wallet Upgrade Too
Gero Wallet also released version 2.7.0, adding multi account support, expanded token features and interface improvements.
The Big Picture
Trading venues, flexible fee options and better wallets are the building blocks of a healthy DeFi ecosystem. Each one makes Midnight a little more practical for people who simply want to use it, not study it.