Midnight, Cardano’s privacy-focused side-chain, has seen its long-anticipated “Glacier Drop” transition from concept to a fully documented specification with the release of the project’s 45-page Tokenomics and Incentives Whitepaper dated June 2025. The document crystallises what had previously been hints—namely that the entire genesis mint of 24 billion NIGHT tokens is being put on the table for a community-driven distribution whose first salvo is the Glacier Drop. “Token supply: 24 billion NIGHT tokens minted on Cardano, which are mirrored on the Midnight network,” the paper states, before adding that expansion via block rewards is strictly disinflationary, tapering toward zero once every token is circulating.
NIGHT is described as a non-expendable utility token that continuously generates the shielded network resource called DUST. Every block credits fresh DUST to a designated, privacy-preserving address until the address hits a cap that is mathematically linked to the amount of NIGHT backing it; if the holder moves or re-designates their NIGHT, the previously accumulated DUST decays to zero. “As it is generated continually and indefinitely, there is no limit to how much DUST can be generated over time,” the white-paper explains, underscoring that DUST itself is non-transferable and burns on use, severing the traditional link between transaction fees and token price volatility.
Block producers are instead paid in newly circulating NIGHT that flows out of a Reserve using a “base distribution rate” calibrated to deliver an initial network inflation around three per cent per annum. Because the rate is applied to the shrinking Reserve balance, annual issuance decays along an exponential curve, meaning the reward pot lasts “in the order of hundreds of years.” A fixed subsidy guarantees that even empty blocks earn something, but a variable component tied to block fullness redirects otherwise-lost rewards to the on-chain Treasury, creating a carrot for maximum transaction inclusion.
Cardano’s Biggest Airdrop: Who Gets What And How
The white-paper calls the Glacier Drop “phase one of a three-step claim journey,” and it allocates the entire 24 billion supply to this opening phase to 8 chains, albeit with conditions designed to defeat Sybil bots and sanctioned entities. Half of the supply is reserved for Cardano native-token holders, one fifth for Bitcoin addresses, and the balance is split among Ethereum, Solana, XRP Ledger, BNB Chain, Avalanche and Brave wallet participants according to the US-dollar value of their holdings at the moment of a random, already-taken historical snapshot.
Individual eligibility is algorithmic and transparent. If, at the snapshot, an address on any of the eight networks held the equivalent of at least $100 in its native asset—and is not flagged on OFAC’s SDN list—it can claim. Midnight then requires two cryptographic proofs: first, the address owner signs a message to demonstrate custody; second, the claimant supplies a fresh, unused Cardano address to receive the thawed NIGHT once the redemption window opens. Custodial exchange accounts are out of luck unless the custodian chooses to claim on users’ behalf.
The Glacier claim window will run for sixty days. Claimed tokens are locked in a Cardano smart contract and “gradually thaw” throughout a subsequent redemption period; the cadence of that unlock schedule has not yet been published, but Midnight emphasises that the mechanism is meant to blunt opportunistic dumping and encourage early participation in block production, governance and DUST-fuelled application building. Unclaimed NIGHT does not disappear: it rolls into phase two, the Scavenger Mine, where participants solve public-good computational puzzles for a share of the leftovers while simultaneously seeding core network infrastructure. Whatever survives that torrent becomes the bounty for phase three, Lost-and-Found, a final recovery chance after main-net launch.
Prospective claimants therefore have a concrete checklist. They must confirm that their balances are held in self-custody at the snapshot height, ensure the wallet remains unsanctioned, and prepare to sign a message once the NIGHT Claim Portal goes live. They must also create an unused Cardano address—a privacy best-practice given that Midnight will publish audit proofs for every redemption transaction on-chain. With those pieces in place, the only moving parts left are the opening block number of the claim portal and the publication of the exact thaw schedule, both of which the team says will appear on Midnight’s official website in “short order.”
At press time, ADA traded at $0.5817.
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