A couple of days ago, a friend asked me: @MidnightNetwork is online, what can NIGHT do?
I opened my mouth to say "governance", "staking", "generate DUST", but suddenly got stuck. These terms are too technical, even I can't explain them clearly.
Later, I thought of a metaphor: NIGHT is a faucet, and DUST is the water that flows out.
The faucet (NIGHT) is fixed; if you own it, you have the ability to get water. But the water (DUST) that is actually used for watering plants, cooking, and washing clothes is what flows out. When the water runs out, it's gone, but the faucet is still there, and after a while, it can produce water again.
The design of Midnight is just like that: if you hold NIGHT, it will continuously generate DUST. DUST is non-transferable, will decay, and is consumed when used up. If you want to use the network, just consume DUST; if you don't want to use it, DUST automatically resets to zero and takes up no space.
This is different from the token models I’ve seen before. Most projects make you "buy coins - consume"; when the coin price goes up, the Gas fee becomes too expensive to afford. Midnight separates "holding" and "using"—NIGHT is an asset, and DUST is fuel, each serving its purpose.
Last year during Glacier Drop, I exchanged some NIGHT, but I didn't pay much attention to it. Now that the mainnet is online, I opened my wallet, watching DUST generate bit by bit, suddenly feeling that this design is quite clever—it's not about making you spend it all at once, but rather allowing you to have a steady flow.