Cardano’s ecosystem entered a defining moment last week as Midnight’s native utility token, NIGHT, officially launched and initiated one of the biggest redemption events the industry has seen.
The rollout marks the beginning of the Hilo phase of the Midnight roadmap. It opens redemption for more than 4.5 billion tokens previously claimed during the Glacier Drop and Scavenger Mine phases.
Over eight million participating addresses and major exchanges are preparing for the distribution of Cardano’s latest privacy-centric Web3 infrastructure.
That said, phase one, the Glacier Drop, rewarded self-custodying holders across ADA, BTC, ETH, SOL, XRP, BNB, AVAX, and BAT, generating more than 3.5 billion claims from 170,000 wallets.
Phase two, the Scavenger Mine, broke industry records, securing more than eight million addresses and one billion tokens through a universally accessible process that required only a computer and an internet connection.
Phase two’s success led to a redistribution of the initial apportionment, increasing the Scavenger Mine pool and adjusting allocations for the Lost-and-Found phase, the TGE, the Reserve, and the on-chain treasury.
These changes are meant to improve community access ahead of Midnight’s mainnet launch.
The NIGHT token enters circulation through a 360-day thawing schedule beginning December 10, with unlocks delivered in four equal installments. Moreover, the Redemption Portal will allow participants to preview allocations, timelines, and claim availability, while developers can access APIs for automated processing.
Once the Midnight mainnet goes live, the NIGHT supply will be mirrored across both chains through a protocol that prevents duplication while enabling seamless transfers.
Midnight’s launch has attracted major exchange support, with Kraken, Binance Alpha, and OKX announcing listings and preparing to distribute tokens to eligible users.
Community sentiment also accelerated after Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson endorsed the rollout, calling Midnight the reason the team built “something new and different.”
Hoskinson’s comments, paired with rapid exchange integration and growing liquidity expectations, strengthened market confidence in NIGHT and set the tone for one of Cardano’s most ambitious expansions to date.
Source: https://zycrypto.com/cardano-and-its-head-charles-hoskinson-are-incredibly-bullish-on-night-heres-why/
