According to CoinDesk, the Midnight Airdrop, officially known as the Glacier Drop, will reportedly see 37 million wallets on eight major blockchains, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Cardano, and Solana, distributed with NIGHT and DUST tokens.
According to Charles Hoskinson, who said as much at Consensus 2025, the venture behind Cardano’s privacy sidechain, Midnight, will not have any venture capital participation at all. This is a commitment to decentralization and guaranteeing the dispersion stays amongst the wider crypto community.
Planned in advance of Midnight’s mainnet going live in late 2025, the initiative emphasizes a user-first approach.
“No VCs, no pre-mine, no early allocation,”
Hoskinson said, to stress the point that Cardano is a project that is supposed to be led by retail users and keep the token distribution as transparent as possible.
Privacy and Governance Tokens
Midnight sidechain will function with dual tokens as follows:
NIGHT: Built to govern, allowing the holders of the token to engage in Midnight’s governance.
DUST: A utility token for handling privacy transactions and shielded smart contracts. DUST is constructed PROPORTIONALLY from the NIGHT, vanity for more extensive control of your privacy.
The tokens would similarly be designed to function across chains, without requiring developers or users to get involved in complex token swaps.
“This is the project that I’m having the most fun with. It’s where I get to make friends with everybody.”
The cross-chain initiative founder Hoskinson added.
Cross-Chain Integration Encouraging Ecosystem Unity
Midnight brings a new approach of allowing developers to pay transaction fees in native currencies like ETH and BTC. This is the system that cuts down the friction for developers and encourages inclusive participation across all blockchain networks. Any of the supported chains’ validators can participate in the network security and receive rewards.
With cross-chain validation and native-token fee structures, Midnight’s focus is on breaking out of walled gardens and working together.
A New Philosophy on Airdrops
In contrast to the typical crypto airdrops, which tend to favor institutional interests, the Glacier Drop takes venture capital out of the equation. NIGHT or DUST to eligible wallets for each token on a per-chain basis.
This tactic has ignited discussions about the fairness of token distribution in venues like Reddit and X (formerly Twitter). Discussions suggest that Cardano (ADA) holders could get most of it, a move that would reward the long-term community.
Midnight Token Data And Performance As Well As Projections
As of 15th May 2025, NIGHT is currently trading around $0.0006, which is a 7.7% gain over the last 7 days. But the token is still down 96.85% from its all-time high of $0.0192 set just after the testnet announcement.
Development Timeline
Figment already has the Nightshade testnet up for Loom, where developers can experiment with privacy-centered dApps. We expect the mainnet to launch in Q4 2025. This is coherent with Cardano’s approach to grow its ecosystem with dedicated sidechains that directly address different blockchain problems like identity, scalability, and privacy.
Introducing Midnight’s Protocol and Two of Our Newest Partners Hoskinson’s announcement situates Midnight as a privacy-focused, interoperable project that answers the call from the industry for decentralized, transparent designs—while rejecting the presence of centralized capital influence.
Final Word
Midnight’s airdrop model and road map are indicative of a broader industry trend toward democratized token access and cross-chain interoperability. And in the meantime, a combination of broad distribution, native-token transactions, and a focus on privacy could change the way blockchain projects think about community.
With the Glacier Drop aiming for 37 million wallets and the network gearing for mainnet by the end of the year, the crypto community is taking notice. The VCs not being invited to the party only serves to add fuel to the fire, strengthening the Midnight belief in empowering the users, not the institutions.
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Frequently Asked Questions
1. Why did Cardano airdrop 37M wallets at midnight?
The goal of the Midnight airdrop is to distribute NIGHT and DUST between users while promoting decentralization, privacy, and removing VCs from the ownership of the projects.
2. Who is eligible for the Midnight airdrop, and why are VCs excluded?
Tokens are distributed to all eligible wallets on 8 blockchains, excluding VCs, for community-focused distribution in Charles Hoskinson’s vision of decentralization.
3. What is the purpose of NIGHT and DUST tokens inthe Midnight ecosystem?
NIGHT brings governance, while DUST offers private transaction capabilities and shielded contracts that give users control and privacy on the Midnight sidechain network.
4. Is it possible for users to join the network with other cryptocurrencies?
Yes, the fees could be paid in native tokens such as ETH or BTC, and validators could earn incentives from any chain, which allows for cross-chain ecology support.
Glossary of Key Terms
1. Midnight
A privacy sidechain on the Cardano platform structured to facilitate private transactions as well as decentralized applications on several blockchains.
2. Airdrop
The allocation of cryptocurrency tokens for free to multiple wallet addresses, typically to reward users, foster adoption, or in support of a project’s ecosystem.
3. NIGHT Token
The Midnight sidechain governance token enables holders to vote for protocol changes and network decisions.
4. DUST Token
A privacy utility token that is created using NIGHT, used to make anonymous transactions and complete shielded smart contracts on the Midnight network.
5. Cross-Chain Compatibility
The ability of a blockchain or dApp to connect to other blockchains, thus allowing assets, data, or operations to cross interoperable blockchains that are mostly isolated from one another.
6. VC Exemption Minors, corporations (profit and non-profit), or VCs that own 50% or more of the corporation or project may still utilize CROWDFUND.
Conscious effort to not reserve token allocations for institutional investors to enable wider and more equitable distribution among retail community members.
7. Mainnet
An operational, public instance of a blockchain network on which real transactions are taking place, as opposed to a testnet used for dev and testing.
8. Validator
A body or node that adds security to a blockchain by verifying transactions and blocks. At midnight, validators can receive rewards from any chain.
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