Midnight uses a "dual token" model to separate investment value and network usage costs:
$NIGHT (Utility Token): Used for governance, securing the network, and staking. This is the main asset that users hold.
DUST (Resource): Similar to "fuel" (gas). DUST is generated automatically when you hold $NIGHT. The good thing is that DUST will regenerate over time, making transaction costs predictable and unaffected by the price volatility of the main token.