- Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson confirmed the Midnight airdrop, known as the Glacier Drop, will reach 37 million users across major blockchains including XRP, Bitcoin, and Ethereum.
- The privacy-focused Midnight sidechain enables cross-chain interaction without converting assets, marking a major step into crypto’s fourth generation centered on privacy.
In a bold revelation at Paris Blockchain Week 2025, Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson confirmed that the upcoming Midnight airdrop—dubbed the “Glacier Drop”—will reach 37 million users across multiple blockchains, including XRP, Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana holders.
Hoskinson made this announcement during his keynote address, emphasizing the expansive reach and ambitious vision behind Midnight, ADA privacy-focused sidechain. With a strong focus on privacy and cross-chain compatibility, the project marks a significant shift as the blockchain world enters what Hoskinson calls the fourth generation of crypto.
Airdrop for All: Midnight Welcomes XRP, ADA, BTC, ETH & More
The Glacier Drop will distribute two tokens:
- NIGHT – Midnight’s governance token with a fixed supply, enabling network participation.
- DUST – A non-transferable token for shielded, private transactions within the Midnight ecosystem.
What’s truly groundbreaking is the concept of “chain abstraction.” Users won’t need to convert their tokens—whether ADA, ETH, BTC, or XRP—to engage with Midnight. This frictionless interaction positions the protocol as a unifying layer for blockchain ecosystems.
Hoskinson confirmed that users on Bitcoin, Ethereum, Cardano, XRP, Solana, Avalanche, Polygon, and Binance Smart Chain will be eligible for the airdrop, reinforcing Cardano’s commitment to interoperability and inclusive privacy tech.
Privacy Is the Future: Cardano’s Fourth Crypto Era
Hoskinson also shared his view of blockchain’s evolution:
- Decentralization (e.g., Bitcoin),
- Programmability (e.g., Ethereum),
- Interoperability & Scalability, and now
- Privacy.
“Privacy is not optional—it’s fundamental,” he stressed, explaining Midnight’s goal to enable compliant, secure, and private data management through advanced cryptographic tools.
Midnight’s Roadmap Gaining Speed
The Midnight team is actively enhancing its testnet, improving scalability and developer support. They’ve also partnered with OpenZeppelin to create a secure DeFi framework and launched a compatibility matrix and release overview page for developers.
As excitement builds for the Glacier Drop, Midnight is shaping up to be one of the most important privacy-centric initiatives in crypto—backed by Cardano and now bridging some of the largest ecosystems in the blockchain space.
