Charles Hoskinson Announces "Glacier Drop" Airdrop for Midnight Privacy Sidechain, Distributing NIGHT and DUST Tokens to 37M Users

Charles Hoskinson, the founder of Cardano, has announced a wide-reaching token distribution event aimed at users across multiple blockchain platforms.

Charles Hoskinson, founder of Cardano, announced a broad token distribution event to users across several blockchain platforms. The initiative, called "Glacier Drop," is part of the launch for Midnight, a privacy-focused sidechain being developed by the Cardano ecosystem.

The airdrop will reach over 37 million user addresses across eight blockchain networks, including the XRP Ledger, Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Cardano. This large-scale distribution will introduce two native Midnight tokens: NIGHT, for governance, and DUST, designed for private transactions.

Hoskinson presented details of the Glacier Drop at the Consensus 2025 conference in Toronto, highlighting the move as a major step toward less division within the cryptocurrency industry.

“We are launching two tokens: NIGHT, which is the governance token, and DUST, which is the token that people will use to transact privately,” Hoskinson said.

He added that the airdrop will span eight major blockchains, aiming to include a vast majority of cryptocurrency users. The networks are Cardano, Ethereum, Solana, Avalanche, Bitcoin, BNB Chain, XRP Ledger, and the Basic Attention Token ecosystem.

Retail-Only Distribution: No Allocation to VCs or Insiders

In a departure from typical token launches, Hoskinson stated that Midnight’s airdrop will not have any allocations for venture capital firms or early investors. The tokens will go exclusively to retail users on the participating networks.

According to Hoskinson, avoiding institutional pre-sales is a way to challenge what he calls “VC Ponzi” models of pre-allocating tokens. The airdropped tokens will be immediately available to recipients, who can choose to sell, hold, or discard them without restrictions.

Expanding Across Eight Major Blockchains

Glacier Drop will span eight networks: Cardano, Ethereum, Solana, Avalanche, Bitcoin, BNB Chain, XRP Ledger, and the Basic Attention Token ecosystem. By including platforms that are usually seen in competition, Hoskinson aims to encourage greater cooperation between crypto communities.

He said the constant competitive focus on small differences between projects has hampered the industry’s broader growth.

“We’re in this constant state of arguing about 0.01% differences in smart contract programming languages, or arguing about which blockchain can do 6,000 transactions per second versus 10,000 transactions per second.”

According to Hoskinson, this competitive attitude has prevented crypto from achieving widespread adoption.

“We’re still largely in the same state that we were 10 years ago, with a small group of enthusiasts arguing in online forums while the broader world remains largely indifferent.”

To spur greater collaboration, he announced that one of Midnight’s technical features will allow developers to pay network fees in the native currency of their home blockchain.

For instance, a team building an application on Ethereum will pay their fees in ETH, while a team on Solana will pay in SOL. This is designed to lower the barrier to entry for diverse developer teams to contribute to Midnight.

The protocol will also support cross-chain validator participation, so infrastructure providers from various blockchains can help to secure the Midnight network and earn rewards, regardless of which platform they primarily support.

Currently in testnet, the Midnight mainnet is scheduled for launch by the end of 2025. As development progresses, Hoskinson expressed hope that this project will help broaden access to privacy solutions and bridge ideological divides across the crypto industry.

“This is the project I’m having the most fun with,” he said, citing the project’s potential to unite different communities and expand the reach of decentralized technologies.