Midnight (NIGHT) Token Rebounds 19% After Plunge Due to Wanchain Bridge Vulnerability... Charles Hoskinson Urges Move Away from Legacy Infrastructure to ZK Technology

On July 22, 2026, the Midnight (NIGHT) token recorded a 19% recovery, overcoming the aftermath of a $13 million Wanchain bridge hack that occurred the previous day. While the NIGHT token price plummeted to an all-time low due to the hack, the market appears to be stabilizing quickly as the Midnight Foundation confirmed that there were no issues with the security of the protocol itself. However, this incident has once again highlighted the security vulnerabilities of cross-chain infrastructure, and Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson has called for fundamental innovation based on Zero-Knowledge (ZK) proofs to replace 'legacy' bridge systems.

Current bridge designs are nothing more than an outdated legacy, and the industry needs a radical shift toward ZK-based architectures to overcome these vulnerabilities.

The price volatility of the NIGHT token between July 21 and July 22 was extreme. Immediately after the news of the hack broke, the token price plunged more than 30% to an all-time low of $0.01524, but as of the afternoon of the 22nd, it has rebounded to the $0.0181 level, recovering significantly from its lows. Investors are analyzed to be reacting positively to the Midnight Foundation's swift response and the announcement that network validators have maintained their integrity.

The Full Story of the July 21 Hack: $13 Million in Asset Outflow

This security incident occurred on the Wanchain-operated bridge that connects Cardano and the BNB Chain. The attacker exploited the bridge's lock address to steal approximately 515 million NIGHT tokens, worth about $13 million at the time. The Midnight Foundation clearly drew a line, stating that this attack was not a flaw in the Midnight network itself, but rather targeted vulnerabilities in the third-party bridge infrastructure.

• Signature Reuse Flaw: The attacker bypassed bridge security by reusing previously used signatures.
• Message Encoding Error: An encoding vulnerability was discovered that could abnormally amplify authorized transfer amounts.
• Wanchain Bridge Vault Theft: By combining the two flaws above, the attacker withdrew a large amount of NIGHT tokens held in the bridge.

The Midnight Foundation and Wanchain launched an immediate investigation following the incident. The foundation emphasized that the Midnight network's validator nodes and core protocol were not affected by the hack, and that user assets are safely protected within the network. This announcement played a decisive role in preventing the spread of market panic and served as a springboard for the token price to rebound quickly from its all-time low.

This incident is also aligned with Cardano's 2026 strategic roadmap currently being pushed by Charles Hoskinson. Hoskinson has already been conducting experiments since June to introduce Zero-Knowledge proof technology into systems such as wallet recovery, and he has solidified his stance that the scope of ZK technology application should be expanded to the entire infrastructure following this bridge incident. He warned that existing cross-chain methods without guaranteed security are no longer sustainable and demanded the completion of a transition to a more robust security model within 2026.