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MoneyGram, Vodafone, eToro join Midnight, bringing founding node operators to seven

Tuesday, February 24, 2026 — 17:33:12 (UTC)

MoneyGram, Vodafone, and eToro join Midnight as alliance of founding federated node operators grows to seven

Global leaders in payments, telecommunications, and digital finance commit to operating ZK infrastructure ahead of Midnight’s upcoming mainnet launch

LONDON, FEBRUARY 24, 2026 — The Midnight Foundation today announced that MoneyGram, Pairpoint by Vodafone, and eToro will each be running one of ten nodes for Midnight, the fourth generation blockchain delivering rational privacy to web3, marking a shift in how privacy-enhancing blockchain infrastructure is being adopted at scale.

The three companies, each respective industry leaders in global payments, telecommunications, and digital finance, join a growing list of names – including Google Cloud, Blockdaemon, Shielded Technologies, and AlphaTON Capital, on behalf of Telegram – that together form a network federated node operators that will work together to strengthen and secure the network, before Midnight transitions to full community-driven block production later this year.

Midnight is built to support real-world applications on public blockchains, where privacy requirements, regulatory expectations, and operational reliability all have to coexist. Launching with operators of this calibre provides developers with the conditions required to deploy a new generation of privacy-enhancing applications on Midnight. Consistent availability and predictable network operations allow teams to focus on building applications that leverage Midnight’s zero-knowledge architecture, rather than compensating for infrastructure uncertainty during early deployment.

“The organisations stepping up to operate the network reflect the standard we’re setting as we approach mainnet,” said Fahmi Syed, President of the Midnight Foundation. “In a network’s early stages, operational reliability matters as much as protocol design. By launching with operators that already maintain large-scale, always-on systems, we’re ensuring our community has a stable environment to build and deploy against.”

In addition to running a node, MoneyGram, one of the world's largest cross-border payments companies operating in over 200 countries and territories, is also working with Midnight to explore how established payment networks can modernise onto blockchain rails while maintaining regulatory trust and user privacy – enabling confidential transactions where settlement itself becomes proof of compliance.

“MoneyGram has been delivering real-world crypto solutions for years, focusing on making the benefits of digital finance accessible to the people who actually need them,” said Luke Tuttle, MoneyGram Chief Product and Technology Officer. “Working with Midnight and running blockchain nodes fits naturally into this strategy, allowing us to help ensure that privacy, compliance and reliability are built in from day one.”

Pairpoint by Vodafone, is also looking to integrate Midnight's zero-knowledge architecture into its Economy of Things platform. With millions of connected devices transacting autonomously across global networks, Pairpoint is building infrastructure where machines can transact privately at scale — and privacy-preserving blockchain is the foundation that makes it possible.

“Our Web3 mission is to bring connected devices on-chain and incorporate intelligence at the edge through AI, Midnight's zero-knowledge architecture is key to providing the trusted IoT device digital identity, authentication and trust required to scale this across global networks as we move towards the IoT AI economy,” said David Palmer, Chief Innovation Officer at Pairpoint.

eToro, the NASDAQ-listed investment platform serving over 35 million users, has also signed on to become a founding federated node operator, after recently announcing support for Midnight's native token, NIGHT, in January. eToro's participation brings a publicly traded, globally regulated fintech into the alliance – signalling institutional confidence Midnight’s privacy-enhancing infrastructure.

"At eToro we have been following and contributing to the Cardano ecosystem since the Shelley-era, during which we were amongst the first institutions to build and run an in-house staking operation for the Cardano network,” said Omri Ross, Chief Blockchain Officer at eToro. “We were excited to learn about Midnight’s novel approach to programmable data protection and selective disclosure, designed to balance user confidentiality with regulatory compliance. We believe technologies enabling granular control over data visibility will be foundational to the next generation of blockchain infrastructure.:

"When a global payments network, a leading technology company backed by a Fortune 500 telco, and a publicly traded fintech all choose to operate nodes on the same privacy-enhancing blockchain, that tells you where this industry is heading," added Syed. "MoneyGram, Pairpoint, and eToro are here because they recognise that privacy-enhancing architecture is what makes it possible to bring their industries on-chain. This is just the beginning of what this consortium will look like."

“Midnight’s architecture for confidential smart contracts with built-in verifiability aligns with our long-term view that, over time, all asset classes will increasingly move on-chain, requiring infrastructure that can support global-scale markets with robust security and compliance by design," Ross explained.

The initial network of federated node operators will ensure decentralization, security and stability at launch, before the network transitions to full community-driven block production later in 2026. More partners are expected to be announced in the coming weeks.

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About Midnight Foundation The Midnight Foundation is an organisation dedicated to advancing the development, adoption, and real-world impact of the Midnight network, the privacy enhancing blockchain project developed by Shielded Technologies. Designed for confidential smart contracts, Midnight enables censorship-resistant yet compliant decentralised applications. It leverages zero-knowledge proofs and a cooperative tokenomics architecture – with NIGHT as the utility token and DUST as the shielded capacity resource – to deliver a powerful combination of privacy, security, and decentralization.

Midnight Foundation Media Contact Dominic Chan dominic@ecologymedia.co.uk +447502729410 Dominic Chan | Senior Account Manager Ecology Media | Phone (UK): +44 7502 729 410 | Email: dominic@ecologymedia.co.uk | Web: www.ecologymedia.co.uk

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Source: Company press release.

Categories: Announcement