Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson has hailed the launch of Midnight and its native token NIGHT because the strongest within the community’s historical past, arguing that it proves Cardano can now host and distribute multi-billion-dollar property at scale.
NIGHT Token Plunges After Midnight Launch
In his December 10 livestream “Midnight Launch AAR,” Hoskinson opened with the risky worth motion that dominated social media. NIGHT initially spiked to what he referred to as an “insane” stage: “It launched at virtually a $150, which is simply insane […] it simply went manner, manner, manner up.” As soon as buying and selling opened on Binance Alpha, the transfer reversed violently. “As quickly because it bought on Binance Alpha – oh god, why, why, oh why – all the best way down to 2 cents. They dumped on us. That’s what they do. That’s what the DGENs over in that market do.”
He framed this as typical exchange-distribution dynamics, not a structural failure: recipients with no actual connection to the ecosystem “whatever the worth, they only dump the token. They most likely didn’t even know what NIGHT was.”
In accordance with Hoskinson, such launches often endure 48–72 hours of “excessive volatility” earlier than a secure vary emerges. He reiterated that he had anticipated NIGHT to commerce in a “5 cents to fifteen cents” band and mentioned it was sitting round 6–6.5 cents with a completely diluted valuation of roughly $1.5 billion and round $150 million in buying and selling quantity. For a brand-new Cardano-native asset in present circumstances, he referred to as that “a very strong launch.”
What made the debut traditionally important in his view was the mix of tier-one listings and on-chain metrics. “That is the primary time in historical past that Cardano proper out the gate can launch a $1.5 billion product, be listed on Binance Alpha and Kraken and OKX and all people else in the beginning,” he mentioned, stressing that a lot of the required infrastructure “wasn’t there” and needed to be constructed through the run-up.
Cardano’s Greatest Launch Ever
On Cardano itself, he highlighted that Midnight instantly grew to become the dominant token by buying and selling exercise. Citing TapTools, he mentioned NIGHT was “sitting [at] an awesome stage of quantity, and it’s really larger than the quantity of each different Cardano native token mixed,” including that its FDV is “value greater than all the opposite CNTs mixed as nicely.”
For the primary time, he argued, DEXs resembling Minswap and SundaeSwap carried a “significant share of buying and selling quantity […] with respect to giant exchanges,” serving to “prime the pump on Cardano DEXes” and pull extra stablecoins into the ecosystem.
Distribution was one other point of interest. Hoskinson praised the Glacier Drop mechanism and its gradual “thawing,” saying it creates “a pleasant regular emission and a pleasant regular circulation for the system versus a jagged factor the place the insiders all dump.”
He contrasted Midnight’s retail-heavy, exchange-plus-airdrop distribution with VC-led launches elsewhere: “That is the primary time since Bitcoin {that a} launch has been performed the best way that Midnight did it. It was full retail, fully truthful, and none of these rattling VCs bought their grubby fingers on it. As an alternative, it went proper to you, the folks.”
He tied that to a broader “return to first ideas,” arguing that 2026 ought to reward initiatives with truthful launches and fixed-supply, deflationary financial insurance policies: “There’s a hard and fast provide NIGHT, by the best way […] it’s going to be yr for everyone who’s betting on you, the patron, and never betting on the banks.”
Wanting ahead, Hoskinson positioned Midnight as Cardano’s first “accomplice chain” and the “tip of the spear” for a hybrid DApp mannequin spanning a number of ecosystems: “You discuss Midnight Cardano, Midnight Ethereum, Midnight Solana, Midnight Avalanche, Midnight Binance.” He mentioned that after the primary 4 phases of the roadmap, “each two months a brand new ecosystem will get activated,” with recurring characteristic drops “each six to eight weeks.”
He additionally forged Midnight as a aggressive wedge for Cardano DApps. With tier-one integrations and privacy-preserving capabilities, he argued, “we’ve privateness earlier than [Ethereum and Solana] do,” giving Cardano–Midnight hybrid apps a differentiator that may assist develop TVL, MAU and transaction quantity.
Hoskinson insisted that the launch pressure-tested and validated the bottom protocol: “Cardano community dealt with it. The exchanges dealt with it. And Midnight is right here to remain.” The ambition from right here is specific. “We’re going to march Midnight up as an ecosystem to that $10 billion mark. That’s the purpose. Let’s maintain going. Let’s get her performed,” he mentioned, including that “these are the most effective numbers we’ve ever seen within the historical past of Cardano” – and, in his view, solely the start.
At press time, ADA traded at $0.4325.
Featured picture created with DALL.E, chart from TradingView.com
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