Charles Hoskinson, the founder of Cardano, announced that he will distribute the NIGHT and DUST tokens via a massive airdrop to 37 million users on a side chain called Midnight, with the aim of ending 'crypto tribalism.'
Charles Hoskinson, the founder and CEO of Cardano, made important statements at the Consensus 2025 event, officially introducing the massive airdrop named 'Glacier Drop' for the Midnight side chain. Hoskinson stated that they set out with the mission to end 'tribal wars' in the industry, expressing that they would distribute tokens to a total of 37 million users across eight different major blockchains.
While Midnight is being developed as Cardano's side chain focused on private transactions, the NIGHT and DUST tokens to be distributed under the Glacier Drop framework will be aimed entirely at retail users. With this move, Hoskinson emphasized that no token allocation would be made to venture capital (VC) firms. Hoskinson harshly responded to VC firms requesting tokens, stating, 'I have no time for your Ponzi schemes, get the hell out of here.'
A new economic model: Collaborative economy
Midnight's economic model will have a hybrid structure that allows different blockchain developers to pay transaction fees with their own tokens. Ethereum developers will be able to pay with ETH, Solana developers with SOL, and Bitcoin developers with BTC. Thanks to this cross-chain collaboration model, validators will also be able to earn rewards through different networks.
Midnight is currently in the testnet phase, and the mainnet launch is planned to take place by the end of 2025. According to Hoskinson, the main goal of this project is to attract billions of mainstream users to the crypto world and accelerate the entry of Big Tech companies into the sector.