Midnight (NIGHT) Airdrop Eligibility Calculator
Important: The claiming window for the Midnight airdrop closed on October 4, 2025. This tool estimates potential allocation only for educational purposes.
Your Eligibility Check
Enter your holdings in USD from June 11, 2025 snapshot (minimum $100 threshold for eligibility)
Estimated NIGHT tokens you would have received:
$0
On August 6, 2025, one of the biggest cryptocurrency airdrops in history went live - the Midnight (NIGHT) Glacier Drop. It wasn’t just another token giveaway. It was a carefully engineered distribution of 24 billion NIGHT tokens across eight major blockchains, designed to kickstart a privacy-focused sidechain built on Cardano. But here’s the catch: the claiming window closed on October 4, 2025. If you didn’t claim your tokens by then, you missed the first major chance - and the rules were strict.
Who Was Eligible for the Midnight Airdrop?
You didn’t need to be a crypto expert, but you did need to hold something. The snapshot happened on June 11, 2025. If your wallet had at least $100 worth of any of these eight native assets at that exact moment, you qualified:- Bitcoin (BTC)
- Ethereum (ETH)
- Ripple (XRP)
- Solana (SOL)
- Avalanche (AVAX)
- BNB Chain (BNB)
- Brave (BAT)
- Cardano (ADA)
It didn’t matter if you held just one of these - or all of them. If you met the $100 threshold on any single chain, you were eligible for a share. The more you held, the more you got. And if you held across multiple chains, you could claim from each one.
But here’s what most people didn’t realize: if your crypto was sitting on Binance, Coinbase, or Kraken, you were likely out of luck. The airdrop required self-custody. You had to control your private keys. Exchanges didn’t claim on behalf of users - and most didn’t even try. So if your ADA, BTC, or ETH was in an exchange wallet, you didn’t get anything - no matter how much you owned.
How the Tokens Were Split
The 24 billion NIGHT tokens weren’t divided equally. The distribution was weighted to favor Cardano, since Midnight is a Cardano sidechain:- 50% (12 billion tokens) - Reserved for Cardano (ADA) holders
- 20% (4.8 billion tokens) - Reserved for Bitcoin (BTC) holders
- 30% (7.2 billion tokens) - Split among Ethereum, XRP, Solana, Avalanche, BNB Chain, and BAT holders
The 30% wasn’t split evenly. It was proportional to how much each user held in those six chains. So if you had $500 in ETH and $200 in SOL, your share of that 30% was based on your total value across those two. No guesswork. No manual selection. Just math based on the snapshot.
Cardano holders got the biggest slice - and for good reason. Midnight is built as a privacy layer on top of Cardano. This wasn’t just an airdrop - it was a strategic move to bring the existing Cardano community into the new network as early validators and users.
The Claiming Process: Two Proofs, One Wallet
Claiming wasn’t simple. You couldn’t just click a button and get tokens. You had to prove you owned your crypto - without moving it. And you had to give up a new Cardano wallet address to receive the tokens.The process had two steps:
- Proof of custody: Sign a message with your private key from the wallet that held the $100+ in June. This proved you controlled the funds - no exchange could do this.
- Provide a Cardano destination address: You had to give a fresh, unused Cardano wallet address. Existing ADA wallets could be used, but many users were confused. The system needed a clean address to avoid conflicts.
Supported wallets included Eternl, Lace, Yoroi (for Cardano), and MetaMask (for Ethereum, BNB, etc.). But no matter which chain you held assets on, you had to receive NIGHT on a Cardano wallet. That created a barrier for people who didn’t use Cardano before.
And the deadline? October 4, 2025. The portal closed. No extensions. No exceptions. If you waited until the last week and didn’t finish, you lost it.
What Happens to Unclaimed Tokens?
The project didn’t just burn the unclaimed tokens. That would’ve been wasteful. Instead, they created a three-phase system to make sure the full 24 billion tokens eventually reach real users.- Phase 1: Glacier Drop - The initial 60-day claim window. Closed on October 4, 2025.
- Phase 2: Scavenger Mine - Unclaimed tokens are now being redistributed to users who solve public computational puzzles. These aren’t random games - they’re useful tasks that help build the Midnight network’s infrastructure. Think of it like mining, but instead of hashing, you’re contributing real work.
- Phase 3: Lost-and-Found - Any tokens left after the Scavenger Mine become available after mainnet launch. This is your last shot if you missed the first two phases.
This structure is rare in crypto. Most airdrops give you tokens and vanish. Midnight designed this to keep people engaged - not just grab and sell.
The Vesting Schedule: No Instant Cashouts
Here’s what really sets Midnight apart: you don’t get to sell your tokens right away.Once you claim, your NIGHT tokens are locked in a Cardano smart contract. They unlock in four equal parts over 360 days - 25% every 90 days. But here’s the twist: the unlock times are randomized. You don’t know exactly when your next 25% will be released.
Why? To stop big sellers from dumping all at once. If everyone got their tokens unlocked on the same day, the price would crash. Randomized unlocks spread out the selling pressure and encourage long-term participation.
And the 360-day clock doesn’t start when you claim. It starts when Midnight’s mainnet launches. That date hasn’t been announced yet. So even if you claimed on time, you still don’t know when you’ll be able to trade your tokens.
What Is Midnight Actually Building?
NIGHT isn’t just a token. It’s the fuel for a privacy network that wants to fix a big problem in crypto: you can’t have both transparency and privacy. Bitcoin and Ethereum are public - everything is visible. Monero and Zcash are private - but hard to use in real apps.Midnight calls this "rational privacy." It’s not about hiding everything. It’s about letting you control what’s visible. Need to prove you’re over 18 without showing your ID? Done. Want to pay someone without revealing your balance? Easy. Regulators can audit compliance without seeing every transaction. That’s the goal.
The network uses two tokens:
- NIGHT - The utility token you got from the airdrop. Used for governance, staking, and access.
- DUST - The gas token. You use DUST to pay for transactions, smart contracts, and privacy features.
This dual-token model is designed to separate value from usage. It’s complex, but it’s meant to make the network more stable and sustainable.
Why This Airdrop Was Different
Most airdrops are marketing stunts. Midnight’s was a network bootstrap.- Cross-chain targeting: Reaching users on Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, and Cardano at once? Almost never done.
- Merit-based eligibility: No Twitter followers, no Discord roles. Just dollar value on June 11.
- Anti-sybil design: OFAC screening blocked sanctioned addresses. No bots.
- Long-term incentives: Vesting, randomized unlocks, and computational mining keep people involved.
This wasn’t about creating quick millionaires. It was about building a community of users who care about privacy, not just price charts.
What’s Next for Midnight?
The mainnet launch is the next big milestone. Until then, the testnet is open. Developers are building apps. Users are testing privacy features. The team is refining the system based on feedback.If you missed the Glacier Drop, don’t give up. The Scavenger Mine is active. You can still earn NIGHT by solving puzzles that help the network grow. And after mainnet launches, the Lost-and-Found phase will open.
Midnight isn’t just another token. It’s an experiment in how to distribute value fairly, securely, and sustainably. Whether it works depends on one thing: whether real people stick around long enough to make privacy useful - not just theoretical.
Did everyone who held $100 in crypto get NIGHT tokens?
No. Only those who held $100+ in native assets on one of the eight supported blockchains at the June 11, 2025 snapshot and claimed their tokens before October 4, 2025, received NIGHT. Holding crypto on exchanges like Binance or Coinbase did not qualify unless the exchange claimed on your behalf - which none did. You also needed to provide a fresh Cardano wallet address to receive the tokens.
Can I still claim Midnight (NIGHT) tokens?
The main claiming window for the Glacier Drop closed on October 4, 2025. You can no longer claim through that portal. However, unclaimed tokens are now being redistributed through the Scavenger Mine phase, where users earn NIGHT by solving computational puzzles that support the network. After mainnet launch, a third phase called Lost-and-Found will open for any remaining unclaimed tokens.
Why do I need a Cardano wallet to claim NIGHT?
Midnight is a privacy sidechain built on Cardano. All NIGHT tokens are issued and managed on the Cardano blockchain. Even if you held Bitcoin or Ethereum, you had to provide a Cardano wallet address to receive your tokens. This ensures the network’s security and integration with Cardano’s infrastructure. You don’t need to hold ADA to qualify - but you do need a Cardano wallet to get the tokens.
When will I be able to sell my NIGHT tokens?
You can’t sell them yet. NIGHT tokens are locked in a smart contract and unlock in four equal parts over 360 days - 25% every 90 days. But the 360-day clock starts only after Midnight’s mainnet launches, which hasn’t happened yet. The unlock times are randomized to prevent mass selling. There’s no official mainnet date yet, so liquidity is still months away.
What’s the difference between NIGHT and DUST?
NIGHT is the utility and governance token you received from the airdrop. It’s used for voting, staking, and accessing network features. DUST is the transaction fee token - you use DUST to pay for privacy transactions, smart contracts, and other network operations. You earn DUST by participating in the network, and you spend it to use the services. This separation helps keep the network’s economy stable and prevents speculation from disrupting usage.
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