Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson has publicly refuted allegations of insider manipulation in the ongoing Midnight token airdrop, calling social media claims "misinformation." The rumors emerged from a meme suggesting Hoskinson would receive most NIGHT tokens due to low participation, which he disproved with actual claim data.
As of August 19, over 69,000 wallets had claimed 1.3 billion NIGHT tokens, representing 5.5% of the total 24 billion token supply. The airdrop, dubbed "The Glacier Drop," saw 250 million tokens claimed within the first 24 hours of its early August launch. The distribution specifically excludes institutional investors and VCs, focusing instead on retail participants across eight major blockchains including ADA, BTC, ETH, XRP, SOL, BNB, AVAX, and BAT.
ADA holders receive 50% of the allocation, while XRP users get 5%, with the remainder distributed among other supported chains. The 60-day claim period is designed to ensure fair distribution, with analysts predicting increased participation as the deadline approaches.
Midnight has partnered with digital asset platform Fireblocks to enhance security and accessibility for token claiming and storage. This collaboration aims to boost institutional confidence in the privacy-focused ecosystem despite the retail-focused distribution.
The airdrop has already impacted related markets, with ADA experiencing a 15% price increase following the announcement. The approach has been compared to Uniswap's historic airdrop but is distinguished by its explicit exclusion of institutional players.
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