Midnight Token Airdrop Eve: 26 Wallets Control Entire Supply, Largest Single Holder Owns 31%

Source: TheCryptoUpdates
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Original Link: https://www.thecryptoupdates.com/cardano-midnight-wallet-holds-7-3b-night-tokens-31-of-total-supply/

Current Token Distribution

As the Cardano community prepares for the Midnight airdrop redemption event, on-chain data reveals some interesting distribution patterns. The circulating supply of NIGHT tokens is currently 24 billion, and the distribution is quite concentrated.

Notably, just 26 wallets control the entire supply. That’s not a large number. One particular address, “addr1w9,” holds 7.39 billion NIGHT tokens, accounting for about 31% of the total supply.

Cardano SPO and DRep “Stake with Pride” believes this may be a reserve address for Midnight, used for staking rewards. This is a reasonable assumption, but such concentration is still worth noting.

Major Holders and Upcoming Allocation

Another wallet, “addr1wx,” holds 4.5 billion NIGHT tokens, about 19% of the supply. Stake with Pride mentioned that this wallet may contain NIGHT tokens to be allocated to Glacier Drop claimants and Scavenger Hunt participants.

Midnight Foundation CEO Fahmi Syed confirmed that users claimed over 3.5 billion NIGHT tokens during the Glacier Drop. This provides some context for these figures.

From a broader perspective, 12 wallets hold 99.99% of NIGHT tokens. The two wallets I mentioned earlier collectively hold 50% of the supply. The remaining 0.01% is spread across 14 other wallets.

Token Flows and Release Timeline

So far, the Midnight team has completed 25 transactions, with most of the activity occurring in recent days. NIGHT tokens are gradually moving to new addresses, possibly in preparation for the redemption event.

Midnight has confirmed that the redemption event for Glacier Drop and Scavenger Hunt participants will take place on December 8. At that time, NIGHT tokens will officially launch, and trading will open on exchanges.

Here’s an important point: claimants will initially receive only 25% of their total allocation. Tokens will be distributed in four phases over 12 months, with participants receiving 25% in each phase.

Future Opportunities and Considerations

After the initial allocation, there will be a “Lost and Found” phase. This gives eligible users who did not participate in Glacier Drop another chance to claim tokens. However, they will only be able to receive a portion of what they could have originally been allocated.

The initial minting took place on October 14 (block height 12,517,624), and the final minting event occurred on November 25 (block height 12,696,233). So, these tokens have been in existence for some time, awaiting distribution.

I’m curious how this distribution pattern will affect early trading of the token. With such high concentration early on, volatility may occur as the token becomes more widely distributed. But that’s just my speculation.

The team appears to be taking a cautious, phased approach to distribution. This may help prevent immediate sell pressure, which sometimes occurs during airdrops. We’ll have to wait and see how it plays out in practice.