Cardano’s Hoskinson Celebrates $NIGHT Redemptions Milestone: “I’m Blown Away”

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This is a huge milestone for the Cardano ecosystem and everyone’s talking about it. 

In just one day, over 11,000 users redeemed a total of 250 million $NIGHT tokens through the Midnight Network, Cardano’s new privacy-focused layer-2 protocol. The redemptions are part of the ongoing Glacier airdrop, and the surge has taken even Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson by surprise.

“Already 11,000 redemptions for 250,000,000 NIGHT! I’m blown away by the progress,” he posted on X.

Midnight’s Token Rollout Comes with Structure

Midnight’s token launch is a multi-phase rollout designed to keep users involved over the long term.

The first phase, called the Claim Phase, will run for 60 days. After that, a Scavenger Mine phase will let users earn unclaimed tokens through on-chain activity. Finally, there’s a four-year Lost-and-Found window for late redemptions after the mainnet goes live.

To avoid quick flips, the tokens won’t unlock all at once. Instead, redemptions will happen over four random unlock events across 360 days – a move meant to reward real users.

Midnight Foundation President Fahmi Syed said the airdrop aims to rethink how value is shared in crypto. 

“This airdrop is a rethink of how value and access can be distributed across chains, communities, and use cases.”

Hoskinson: “Wall Street f*ing loves it”**

In a recent video, Hoskinson shared how the idea of private trading is attracting interest from large institutions.

“Wall Street f***ing loves it. We met with the big guys… they’re like, wait a minute, I can do crypto trading and nobody knows that I’m trading?” he said.

According to him, firms like BlackRock and Goldman Sachs are looking for ways to trade without being tracked and Midnight’s privacy layer might be the solution.

Crypto Crowd Remains Divided 

Midnight uses zero-knowledge proofs and selective disclosure, allowing users to control what data they share, which is a growing concern today. The goal is to bring real privacy to smart contracts, without removing the ability to stay compliant when needed.

It’s already drawing interest from platforms like Brave, with possible integration into Brave Ads and Brave VPN in the works.

But as the project gains traction, the crypto community is split. Supporters are calling it a major moment for the space.

Others are more cautious, pointing to the eight-chain airdrop strategy as a potential red flag.

The Cardano Ecosystem Steps Up

This surge in Midnight interest comes right after another big moment for Cardano. For the first time, ADA holders directly voted to approve core development funding, a major move in decentralized governance. 

The funding will support upgrades in scalability, interoperability, and developer tools.

Meanwhile, ADA is trading at $0.72. Volume has dipped slightly, but eyes are on the $1 mark, which is a key psychological level traders have been watching closely.

What’s Next?

With 24 billion $NIGHT tokens to be distributed across eight blockchains, and institutions starting to show serious interest, Midnight is a key part of Cardano’s future.