Midnight Node 2.1.0 Beta Adds Live-Chain Hard Fork Path

Midnight has released Node 2.1.0-beta.1, a major pre-release that prepares its running network for an upgrade to ledger 9. It combines the feature set developed during the unreleased 2.0.0 line with two additional months of maintenance and security patches, alongside migration logic designed to preserve DUST generation linked to $NIGHT.

The beta is available for Midnight’s public network environments. Its publication does not mean that the new runtime is already active across Mainnet.

Midnight Node Adds an Upgrade Path for the Running Network

Midnight Node is the core software used by validators and RPC operators to follow the network, process transactions and execute the runtime behind Midnight applications.

Midnight is a privacy-focused partner chain connected to Cardano. Developers can use it to build applications that combine public blockchain state with private data and selective disclosure. Its economic model separates $NIGHT, the public network asset, from DUST, the non-transferable resource consumed when users execute transactions and smart contracts.

Version 2.1.0-beta.1 was published on August 21 as a feature-complete beta. The release is classified as a major update compared with the latest final Node 1.0.1 version.

Its main infrastructure change is the ability to hard fork from a running 1.0.x chain. Earlier 2.0.0 builds were designed around a fresh genesis environment, limiting their use for an already active network. Node 2.1.0 adds the migration logic required to move the existing chain into the new runtime without discarding its current state.

Ledger 9 Migration Preserves DUST Generation

Activating Node 2.1.0 would move Midnight from ledger 8 to ledger 9 through an on-chain, multi-block migration. The runtime specification changes from 1_000_003 to 2_001_000, while the transaction version moves from 3 to 4.

The transition also affects the state used to generate DUST from NIGHT observed on Cardano. The ledger migration initializes the new DUST structure without the existing generation records, requiring the node to reconstruct them from pre-fork data.

Node 2.1.0 performs that reconstruction in batches after the runtime upgrade. Cardano observation is temporarily paused during the process, which is estimated to cover approximately 28 blocks at Mainnet scale, nine on Preview and one on Preprod.

After reconstruction, observation resumes without skipping the Cardano UTxOs delivered during the migration. The process preserves the link between Cardano-based NIGHT positions and the DUST resource generated for Midnight activity.

Infrastructure connected to the node must also account for the transaction version change. Clients, software development kits and indexers need to refresh their runtime metadata after the upgrade block, while transactions signed or queued before the transition must be rebuilt.

Mainnet Activation Still Requires Governance

Node 1.0.3 is the documented starting point for the hard fork, but that baseline release remained pending when the 2.1.0 beta notes were published. Moving directly from Node 1.0.2 or an earlier version is not part of the supported migration path.

Validators must first install the new binary and confirm that the network continues importing and finalizing blocks under the existing runtime. Authorized technical signers can then apply the governance set_code action that replaces the active runtime.

The Cardano-to-Midnight bridge has an additional governance dependency. Its Cardano observation provider remains inactive until the required MainChainScripts configuration and data checkpoint are set.

Node 2.1.0 supplies the software and migration path for Midnight’s next runtime. Ledger 9 becomes operational only after the 1.0.3 baseline is available, upgraded validators are running across the network and governance applies the new runtime on-chain.