What does the "Midnight airdrop" to 37 million wallets mean and how does it connect to Cardano ($ADA):

What is "Midnight"?

Midnight is a new project associated with Cardano that focuses on privacy and security in blockchain transactions. It is a separate protocol being developed by the Cardano team (Input Output Global, IOHK), which will allow secure and anonymous operations while complying with regulatory requirements.

What is an "airdrop"?

An airdrop is a way for a blockchain project to distribute free tokens (cryptocurrency) to certain users, usually to promote the project, attract new users, or encourage the use of the network. In this case, Midnight plans to distribute its tokens to 37 million wallets that are active in various blockchain networks: Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, BNB, Solana, Avalanche, BAT, and Cardano.

What does this announcement mean?

Scale of the airdrop: The announcement claims that Midnight will distribute tokens to a huge number of wallets – 37 million, making it one of the largest airdrops ever. This includes wallets from eight different blockchain networks, not just Cardano.

Connection to Cardano: Although the airdrop encompasses multiple blockchains, Midnight tokens will be "native" to Cardano. This means that to receive their tokens, users will need to interact with the Cardano network, for example, by using a wallet like Lace (the official Cardano wallet). This could attract millions of new users to the Cardano ecosystem, which is great news for $ADA.

Purpose of the airdrop:

Promoting Midnight: The token distribution will encourage people to learn about Midnight and its privacy features.

Increasing Cardano users: As the tokens will require interaction with Cardano, this may increase the number of active users, transactions, and interest in $ADA.

Interoperability: It shows that Cardano wants to work with other blockchain networks instead of competing in isolation.

What does it mean for $ADA?

Potential growth: If millions of people start using Cardano to receive their Midnight tokens, this could increase the demand and price of $ADA.

Ecosystem effect: New users may become interested in other projects on Cardano, such as decentralized finance (DeFi), NFTs, or staking.

Long-term effect: The success of Midnight could strengthen Cardano's position as a leading blockchain platform.

What should you do if you have $ADA or another wallet?

Check if you are among the 37 million: If you have an active wallet in any of the mentioned networks (e.g., Cardano, Ethereum, XRP), you may be among those eligible for the airdrop. There are still no exact details on the criteria (such as minimum amount or type of activity).

Watch for official announcements: Since the date of the airdrop and the exact requirements are unclear, keep an eye on information from the official channels of Midnight and Cardano (e.g., Twitter/X, the IOHK website, or Midnight).

Set up a Cardano wallet: If you need to interact with Cardano, you may need to set up a wallet like Lace or Daedalus. Make sure not to leave your cryptocurrencies on an exchange – "not your keys, not your crypto".

Unanswered questions (for now):

When will the airdrop be? There is no confirmed date for the start of Midnight or the distribution of the tokens.

What are the conditions? It is unclear whether you will need to hold a certain amount of $ADA or other cryptocurrencies, or just have an active wallet.

How many tokens will you receive? The amount and value of the tokens have not yet been announced.

Conclusion

This announcement is exciting for the Cardano ecosystem because it could attract a huge number of new users and increase the significance of $ADA. If you have a wallet with $ADA or in any of the other mentioned networks, you may be among those who will receive free tokens from Midnight. For now, however, we need to wait for more information on how exactly this will happen.

What you need to know about the Midnight Airdrop

Midnight is a blockchain project focused on privacy, developed by Input Output Global (IOG), the same people behind Cardano. They plan to distribute tokens (called $NIGHT or $DUST, depending on the information) to millions of wallets across various networks, including Cardano, through an event called "Glacier Drop." Charles Hoskinson, the founder of Cardano, confirmed that $ADA holders will receive a significant portion of the tokens.

How to receive tokens?

Since the exact details have not yet been fully announced (as of April 2025), here are the steps you can follow to increase your chances of participating:

Hold $ADA in a Cardano wallet:

You need to hold $ADA in a wallet that you control (self-custodial wallet), not on an exchange like Binance or Kraken. Popular wallets for Cardano include Yoroi, Daedalus, or Lace.

Hoskinson mentioned that the airdrop will take into account "staked" ADA (staked tokens). This means that you must participate in staking by delegating your $ADA to a stake pool in the Cardano network.

Participate in staking:

Open a Cardano wallet (e.g., Yoroi or Lace), transfer your $ADA there, and delegate it to an active stake pool. It is easy and does not require technical skills – just choose a pool in your wallet.

There are speculations that the stake pool you delegate to may need to support Midnight (to validate the Midnight network). However, it is not yet clear which pools will do so, so choose a reliable and active pool with a good reputation.

Follow the official channels:

Sign up for updates from Midnight (

@MidnightNtwrk

in X) and Cardano (

@IOHK_Charles

or the official IOG website). They will announce when the airdrop will happen and if there will be a special "snapshot" (the moment when they check the wallets).

For example, they may check how much $ADA you have at a given moment and distribute tokens proportionally.

Have a wallet ready for Midnight:

Midnight tokens will be on their own network, but you will likely need to "claim" them through a Cardano wallet or a special Midnight wallet. Yoroi has already partnered with Midnight, so it might be a good choice.

Other blockchains (optional):

If you hold assets in networks like Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, Solana, etc., you may also be eligible for the airdrop, but priority is given to $ADA holders. Keep these assets in a personal wallet, not on an exchange.

Important warnings

Avoid scams: Never send $ADA or other tokens to anyone who promises an airdrop. Legitimate airdrops do not require you to send anything or link your wallet to suspicious sites.

Official information: Use only data from Midnight or IOG. If you see announcements on X or elsewhere, check if they are from verified profiles.

Time: There is still no exact date for the airdrop. The latest news from November 2024 says "soon," but watch for updates in 2025.

What to do now?

If you don't have $ADA yet, buy some from an exchange (e.g., Kraken, Binance) and transfer it to a Cardano wallet.

Delegate $ADA to a stake pool immediately – staking in Cardano is safe and yields about 4-5% annual rewards, even without the airdrop.

Wait for an official announcement about the date of the "snapshot" or instructions on how to "claim" your tokens.