This morning I just closed an order $NIGHT . Looking back, I find it a bit funny. Trading something that I don't quite understand the underlying infrastructure
So I opened the docs of @MidnightNetwork ra to read again. I just realized that the current network is in a phase they call kūkolu federated mainnet
Hearing the word mainnet makes it easy to think it is fully decentralized. But that's not really the case
Most blockchains, when talking about mainnet, allow validators to participate quite early. A few dozen, even a few hundred nodes from day one. But Midnight chose a different way to launch
Kūkolu runs with a pre-selected group of node operators including Google Cloud, Blockdaemon, AlphaTON Capital, Shielded Technologies, and Pairpoint. Pairpoint is the IoT joint venture between Vodafone and Sumitomo.
It's all major organizations running serious infrastructure. But technically, right now only these entities are participating in block production.
Under the system, Midnight is built on Polkadot's Substrate SDK. But it's not a parachain. They operate their own chain instead of relying on the relay chain.
The consensus uses GRANDPA for finality and AURA for block production in a round-robin style.
The interesting point about GRANDPA is that it can finalize blocks even if some validators are offline. There's no need to wait for a supermajority like in some other systems.
A small validator set at this stage actually has some benefits. Lower latency and quicker finality.
But reading this far, I'm starting to have a few questions.
According to the whitepaper, during this federated phase, validators don't earn block rewards. Rewards only start when Cardano SPOs participate in the later phase.
So why are Google Cloud and Blockdaemon running nodes at this time? It could be a commercial contract with IOG or they might believe in the long-term ecosystem. The docs don't clarify this.
Another point I've noticed is that kūkolu is described quite thoroughly, but the whitepaper doesn't specify the exit criteria. That is, when will the network open validators to outsiders?
The roadmap says the mōhalu phase is expected in Q2 2026. But if you read closely, that's just an estimate, not a hard commitment.
With such a crucial infrastructure layer and a somewhat vague timeline, folks should also weigh the risks.
In summary, I think kūkolu is still a solid stepping stone. A small validator set helps the team catch bugs early before scaling up.
But it also creates quite an interesting paradox.
A privacy chain is running on Google's Cloud infrastructure.
Meanwhile, privacy systems themselves are designed to reduce dependence on big tech.
Sounds a bit ironic, doesn't it?