Charles Hoskinson defended the volatile launch of Midnight's NIGHT token despite a 90% price collapse within hours of trading.
The Cardano founder framed the December 9 debut as the network's strongest launch in history during a December 10 livestream.
NIGHT initially spiked to what Hoskinson called an "insane" $150 on Cardano decentralized exchanges before crashing to $0.02 after listing on Binance Alpha.
The token currently trades around $0.05, representing an 89% decline from its opening price of approximately $0.08 on centralized exchanges.
"As soon as it got on Binance Alpha – oh god, why, why, oh why – all the way down to two cents," Hoskinson said.
"They dumped on us. That's what they do."
What Happened
Midnight launched December 9 as Cardano's first privacy-focused sidechain using zero-knowledge proof technology.
The project distributed 16.6 billion NIGHT tokens at launch, representing 69% of the total 24 billion supply.
Airdrop recipients received 25% of allocations immediately, with the remaining 75% vesting over nine months.
Major exchanges including Binance Alpha, OKX, Bybit, Kraken, and Gate.io listed the token simultaneously.
Trading volume surged 20,000% to $27.78 million within 24 hours, but demand couldn't absorb the massive supply hitting markets.
Hoskinson attributed the crash to exchange-distribution dynamics rather than structural failure.
"Recipients with no real connection to the ecosystem regardless of the price, they just dump the token," he said.
"They probably didn't even know what NIGHT was."
The Cardano founder expected 48-72 hours of "high volatility" before price stabilization.
He predicted NIGHT would settle in a $0.05 to $0.15 range with a fully diluted valuation of roughly $1.5 billion.
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Why It Matters
Hoskinson positioned the launch as proof Cardano can host and distribute multi-billion-dollar assets at scale.
"This is the first time in history that Cardano right out the gate can launch a $1.5 billion product," he said in the "Midnight Launch AAR" livestream.
NIGHT immediately became the dominant token by trading activity on Cardano.
Hoskinson cited TapTools data showing NIGHT's volume exceeded "every other Cardano native token combined."
The launch represented Cardano's first tier-one exchange listings for a native asset at debut.
Hoskinson praised the "Glacier Drop" distribution mechanism for creating "steady emission" rather than concentrated insider dumps.
He contrasted Midnight's retail-heavy distribution with VC-led launches elsewhere.
"This is the first time since Bitcoin that a launch has been done the way that Midnight did it," Hoskinson said.
"It was complete retail, completely fair, and none of those damn VCs got their grubby hands on it."
The Cardano founder positioned Midnight as the first "partner chain" and "tip of the spear" for a hybrid DApp model spanning multiple ecosystems.
"You talk about Midnight Cardano, Midnight Ethereum, Midnight Solana, Midnight Avalanche, Midnight Binance," he said.
Hoskinson targets a $10 billion ecosystem for Midnight.
"We're going to march Midnight up as an ecosystem to that $10 billion mark. That's the goal," he said.
Critics pointed to the pattern of recently launched tokens underperforming despite initial hype.
Projects including Monad, Keeta, Plasma, and Somnia launched with enthusiasm but now trade near all-time lows.
The crash highlights challenges facing newly launched tokens with large airdrop allocations and immediate unlocks.
ADA traded at $0.43 at time of writing, down from recent highs above $0.46 following the Midnight launch.
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