Midnight (NIGHT) Airdrop by Cardano: Complete Details on the Glacier Drop, Eligibility, and Claiming Process

30 August 2025

On August 6, 2025, one of the biggest cryptocurrency airdrops in history went live - the Midnight (NIGHT) Glacier Drop. Backed by the Cardano ecosystem and led by founder Charles Hoskinson, this wasn’t just another token giveaway. It was a carefully engineered effort to bootstrap a privacy-focused blockchain network with real community buy-in. Over 24 billion NIGHT tokens were distributed across eight major blockchains, but here’s the catch: if you didn’t claim by October 4, 2025, you missed the first major chance to get them.

Who Was Eligible for the Midnight Airdrop?

The Glacier Drop didn’t care if you were a crypto veteran or a new holder. All it needed was one thing: you had to own at least $100 worth of native cryptocurrency on one of eight supported chains as of June 11, 2025. That’s it. No social media posts. No surveys. No Discord roles. Just proof of ownership.

The supported chains were:

• Bitcoin (BTC)
• Ethereum (ETH)
• Ripple (XRP)
• Solana (SOL)
• Avalanche (AVAX)
• BNB Chain (BNB)
• Brave (BAT)
• Cardano (ADA)

The $100 threshold was calculated based on the market price of each asset at the exact moment of the snapshot - a random timestamp on June 11. That meant someone holding 0.002 BTC (if Bitcoin was at $50,000) qualified, while another person needed 40 ADA (if Cardano was trading at $2.50). The system didn’t care how you got there - just that you were holding.

How Were Tokens Distributed?

The 24 billion NIGHT tokens weren’t split evenly. The allocation was weighted to reflect the project’s core identity:

• 50% (12 billion tokens) went to Cardano (ADA) holders - because Midnight is a Cardano sidechain.
• 20% (4.8 billion tokens) went to Bitcoin holders - acknowledging BTC’s role as the original decentralized asset.
• 30% (7.2 billion tokens) was split among Ethereum, XRP, Solana, Avalanche, BNB Chain, and BAT based on the dollar value of holdings in each.

This meant if you held $500 in ADA and $300 in ETH, you qualified for both portions - potentially receiving a much larger total allocation than someone holding just one asset. The system was algorithmic, transparent, and designed to reward genuine participation, not manipulation.

How to Claim NIGHT Tokens

Claiming wasn’t automatic. Even if you were eligible, you had to take action. The claim window opened on August 6, 2025, and closed on October 4, 2025 - a 60-day window. Here’s what you had to do:

1. Go to the official portal: midnight.gd or midnight.network.
2. Connect your wallet from one of the eight supported chains (Eternl, Lace, Yoroi, MetaMask, etc.).
3. Sign a cryptographic message proving you control the private keys of your wallet - without moving any funds.
4. Provide a new, unused Cardano wallet address where you wanted to receive your NIGHT tokens.

This two-step proof ensured only real users - not bots or exchange accounts - could claim. Most centralized exchanges like Binance, Coinbase, or Kraken didn’t support the airdrop, meaning if your crypto was sitting on an exchange, you were out of luck unless the exchange opted in - and nearly all of them didn’t.

Why a Cardano Wallet? It’s Not What You Think

Even if you held Bitcoin or Ethereum, you still had to give a Cardano wallet address to receive NIGHT. That’s because Midnight is a sidechain built on Cardano’s infrastructure. The token itself lives on Cardano, using its security and smart contract capabilities. So while you qualified based on your BTC or ETH balance, the token delivery was Cardano-native.

This created a barrier for users unfamiliar with Cardano. Setting up a new wallet - especially one that could handle smart contracts - wasn’t trivial for beginners. Many missed out simply because they didn’t know how to create a Lace or Eternl wallet. Community tutorials on YouTube and Reddit became essential guides during the claiming window.

What Happens After You Claim?

Claiming didn’t mean instant access. NIGHT tokens are locked by a Cardano smart contract and unlock in four phases over 360 days:

• 25% unlocks after 90 days
• Another 25% after 180 days
• Another 25% after 270 days
• Final 25% after 360 days

Here’s the twist: the unlock times are randomized within each 90-day window. There’s no fixed date. This prevents coordinated selling events and discourages quick flips. The goal? To turn airdrop recipients into long-term participants - validators, developers, and governance voters.

The token model is dual-layered:

• NIGHT = utility token for governance and staking
• DUST = network fee token used for transactions

This separation is intentional. It keeps transaction costs low and stable while giving NIGHT holders control over the network’s future.

What If You Didn’t Claim?

The deadline passed on October 4, 2025. If you didn’t claim, your tokens didn’t vanish. They rolled into the next phase: the Scavenger Mine.

In this phase, users solve public-good computational puzzles - tasks that help build and secure the Midnight network. Solve them, and you earn a share of the unclaimed tokens. It’s not passive. You have to work for it. But it’s fair. No more free handouts - now it’s contribution-based.

After Scavenger Mine, any leftover tokens enter the Lost-and-Found phase - a final recovery window after mainnet launch. This ensures that nearly every one of the 24 billion tokens eventually finds a home with someone who actively participates in the network.

Why This Airdrop Was Different

Most airdrops are marketing stunts. Midnight’s was a network launchpad.

• Multi-chain eligibility - rare for a project tied to one chain.
• OFAC compliance - excluded sanctioned addresses to avoid legal risk.
• 360-day vesting - designed to prevent dumps and encourage long-term use.
• Three-phase distribution - Glacier Drop, Scavenger Mine, Lost-and-Found - ensures maximum participation.
• No social requirements - no Twitter followers, no Telegram groups. Just holdings.

It’s the closest thing to a “fair launch” we’ve seen in 2025.

What’s Next for Midnight?

The testnet is live. Developers are already building privacy-focused apps on it. Mainnet launch is expected in early 2026 - and that’s when the 360-day vesting clock starts ticking for everyone who claimed.

Once mainnet goes live, NIGHT holders will be able to:

• Stake tokens to validate blocks
• Vote on network upgrades
• Use DUST to pay for private transactions
• Build applications that protect user data without sacrificing functionality

Midnight’s goal isn’t to replace Bitcoin or Ethereum. It’s to add something they can’t: rational privacy. The ability to be private when you need to - and transparent when you must.

Final Thoughts

The Glacier Drop was a masterclass in token distribution. It didn’t try to trick people. It didn’t overpromise. It gave a clear path: hold, claim, participate. And if you missed it? There’s still a way in - through the Scavenger Mine.

This wasn’t just an airdrop. It was the first step in building a new kind of blockchain - one where privacy isn’t an afterthought. It’s the foundation.