During his speech at the Consensus 2025 in Toronto, Charles Hoskinson, founder of Cardano, delivered a strong and clear message to the crypto community: it’s time to move beyond digital tribalism and build a more cooperative and inclusive ecosystem.
To do so, he announced new details on the Glacier Drop, a massive airdrop that will distribute the tokens of the new sidechain Midnight to 37 million wallets on eight different blockchains.
An airdrop for users, not for venture capitalists: the crypto ideas of Hoskinson of Cardano
Unlike traditional token launches, often dominated by venture capitalists and early adopter, the Glacier Drop will be entirely dedicated to retail users.
Hoskinson firmly emphasized his choice to completely exclude institutional investors:
“I don’t have time for your ponzis,” he declared from the stage, adding that he told the VCs to “go to hell.”
This decision stems from a principle: using one’s position of economic strength to do what is right, rather than what is convenient.
“Being rich allows me to ignore the VC and do things on principle,” Hoskinson explained, emphasizing that the tokens will be given away unconditionally: “You already have it, congratulations. It’s yours. It belongs to you.”
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The Midnight project, currently in the testnet phase, is a privacy-focused sidechain built for the Cardano ecosystem. Its launch on the mainnet is scheduled for the end of 2025. Midnight introduces two distinct tokens:
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- – NIGHT, the governance token
- – DUST, the token for private transactions
These tokens will be distributed through the Glacier Drop, with the goal of promoting a new vision of the digital economy: that of cross-chain collaboration.
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A cooperative and multi-chain economic model
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One of the most innovative aspects of the Midnight project is its cooperative economic model.
Hoskinson explained how Midnight will allow developers from different blockchain to create hybrid decentralized applications, maintaining the ability to pay fees in the native currency of their own network.
For example:
- – Developers on Ethereum will be able to pay in ETH
- – Those on Solana in SOL
- – And those on Bitcoin in BTC
In the meantime, the validators of different blockchains will be able to collaborate to keep the Midnight network active, receiving rewards regardless of their original affiliation.
This approach breaks with the competitive logic that has so far dominated the sector, paving the way for an interoperable ecosystem oriented towards cooperation.
Hoskinson has openly criticized the climate of toxic competition that often characterizes the world of cryptocurrencies.
“At every Consensus, there is a new token going around saying: ‘My thing is better than yours’,” he stated, comparing this dynamic to Nash equilibria, which are by nature competitive and not cooperative.
With the Glacier Drop, Hoskinson wants to demonstrate that it is possible to build an alternative: a crypto world in which different blockchains collaborate, users are at the center, and the distribution of value is more equitable.
According to Hoskinson, Glacier Drop, Midnight, and the cooperative economy model represent fundamental ingredients to prepare the crypto ecosystem for the arrival of billions of mainstream users.
Which are expected to enter the sector when the Big Tech decide to make their entrance.
“This is the project I am enjoying the most right now, because it is the project where I can be friends with everyone.”
An alternative and bold vision
With the Glacier Drop, Charles Hoskinson is not just launching a new token: he is proposing a new philosophy for the world of cryptocurrencies. A philosophy that rejects tribalism, embraces collaboration, and puts common users at the center, not speculators.
In a sector often dominated by profit and competition logic, Hoskinson’s choice to give away the Midnight tokens to millions of users across eight different blockchains represents a radical and symbolic gesture.
It is an invitation to rethink the foundations of the decentralized economy and to build a future in which technological innovation goes hand in hand with inclusion and economic justice.
The success of the Glacier Drop and the Midnight project could mark the beginning of a new era for the crypto world — an era in which cooperation is no longer an exception, but the rule.
Source: https://en.cryptonomist.ch/2025/05/15/charles-hoskinson-launches-the-glacier-drop-a-revolutionary-airdrop-to-unite-the-bull-and-bear-crypto-world/