Cardano Announces One of the Largest Retail Airdrops in Crypto History

Charles Hoskinson has revealed new developments for Cardano’s upcoming privacy-focused sidechain, Midnight, including a massive multi-chain airdrop initiative aimed squarely at retail users.

Speaking at Consensus 2025 in Toronto, the Cardano founder announced that Midnight will distribute two new tokens—NIGHT (for governance) and DUST (for private transactions)—to over 37 million wallets across eight major blockchain ecosystems, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, XRP, and Cardano itself. Notably, venture capitalists will be entirely excluded from the airdrop.

In a departure from typical token launches, the Glacier Drop will avoid institutional allocations, instead rewarding only everyday users, who will have full control to trade or hold the tokens post-distribution.

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Midnight, currently in its testnet phase, is expected to go live in late 2025. The sidechain is designed not just to enhance privacy but also to encourage interoperability by allowing developers to pay fees using native tokens from other chains, such as BTC or ETH—eliminating the need for wrapped assets or conversions.

By aligning incentives across ecosystems, Midnight aims to serve as a collaborative layer for cross-chain development while preserving transactional privacy.

Alexander Stefanov