Cardano Price Drops Amid Midnight Hype
Cardano (ADA) fell 6.5% on October 22, slipping from $0.6718 to $0.6304 despite excitement surrounding the Midnight sidechain’s major milestone. The privacy-oriented network successfully minted its full 24 billion NIGHT tokens on October 20, marking the completion of its first phase.
Midnight aims to bring enhanced privacy, zero-knowledge technology, and secure smart contracts to the Cardano ecosystem. It’s positioned to enable institutions to use blockchain for data protection and compliance without sacrificing decentralization.
Midnight Enters Scavenger Mine Phase
Following the mint, the Midnight project entered its “Scavenger Mine” phase a gamified claiming period that allows users to participate in token distribution. This stage is designed to increase community engagement ahead of the upcoming Redemption phase, during which users can officially claim and use NIGHT tokens.
Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson has previously stated that Midnight could onboard millions of new users to Cardano by bridging privacy with compliance. However, broader market weakness has overshadowed the milestone’s positive sentiment.
Market Conditions Weigh on ADA
Despite the promising technological progress, ADA’s decline mirrors the broader crypto market, which fell about 4% during the same period. Analysts note that ADA failed to reclaim the key support level near $0.07, showing technical weakness.
If selling pressure continues, traders are watching for ADA to test support around $0.53. For now, market sentiment remains cautious, with short-term traders eyeing whether Midnight’s next phase can reignite demand for the token.
