TLDR
- Midnight is winding down its dedicated Developer Relations team as it changes how it supports ecosystem growth.
- The Cardano-linked privacy project wants to reach founders, designers, operators, and industry specialists alongside traditional developers.
- Midnight plans to focus more on AI-native tools, simpler onboarding, and support from early ideas through deployment.
- Existing programs such as Build Club and Night Sky will form part of the new ecosystem strategy.
- The Foundation rejected claims that AI will replace developers, saying the goal is to widen participation.
Midnight is changing how it supports people building on its privacy-focused blockchain ecosystem linked to Cardano. The project is winding down its dedicated Developer Relations team as it moves toward a broader model that includes developers, founders, designers, operators, and industry specialists.
The Foundation said the change reflects a wider plan to make Midnight easier to use for people who may not have advanced coding skills. The strategy centers on lowering entry barriers and helping more people turn ideas into working products.
Midnight Expands Its Definition of Builders
The project said the crypto sector has often treated builders as people who write and deploy code. Midnight now wants to widen that definition as artificial intelligence tools make software creation more accessible to people with business knowledge or product ideas.
The Foundation pointed to Replit, which has more than 60 million users worldwide, as an example of how AI-supported development tools are reaching a larger audience. Midnight sees this shift as a way to bring more people into its ecosystem without removing the role of professional developers.
Midnight plans to place more attention on AI-native development tools, easier onboarding, and programs that guide builders from an early concept to a deployed application. The project wants to create simpler routes for users who understand a problem but may not know how to code it.
1/ Some news: we've wound down Midnight's dedicated DevRel team as we shift our strategy for how we bring builders into the ecosystem.
The reason is simple: we want to expand who can build on Midnight.
Here's what that means. 🧵
— Midnight Foundation (@midnightfdn) September 10, 2026
The strategy will build on existing programs such as Build Club and Night Sky. Midnight said developers may ask what they can build, while other builders may start with a problem they want to solve. The project aims to support both groups through different tools and learning paths.
Foundation Responds to Cardano Community Debate
The decision to wind down the DevRel team has triggered debate among some Cardano community members. Critics have questioned whether Midnight is placing too much attention on AI tools while reducing direct support for developers.
The Foundation rejected that view and said the strategy does not replace developers. Instead, it aims to widen participation by bringing in founders, operators, designers, domain experts, and others who can use AI tools to create products.
Midnight said the new model remains in an early testing phase. The project plans to work with a smaller group of builders, study how they use the tools, and adjust the process before expanding access across the wider ecosystem. The Foundation said feedback from those trials will shape future support, resources, and onboarding before Midnight applies the approach to a larger number of ecosystem participants over time.
