The launch of Midnight’s NIGHT token has given Cardano (ADA) one of its strongest moments in years. Within days of going live, NIGHT pushed trading activity to levels the network has never seen before, especially across decentralized exchanges.
Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson did not hold back, calling it the strongest debut any Cardano-native token has ever achieved.
NIGHT began trading simultaneously on major global exchanges, including Binance, OKX, and Kraken. According to Hoskinson, this level of launch-day access is unprecedented for Cardano.
Hoskinson Celebrates Historic DEX Volume Following #NIGHT Launch.
— TheCryptoBasic (@thecryptobasic) December 15, 2025
Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson has praised the launch of the Midnight (NIGHT) token, calling it the strongest debut Cardano has ever achieved.
His remarks come days after NIGHT began trading across multiple… pic.twitter.com/5OSAsedzIX
No previous native token had rolled out with this kind of immediate exchange coverage, and that alone marked a clear shift in how the ecosystem is being treated by the wider market.
The reaction was fast. Shortly after launch, NIGHT became one of the most talked-about assets in crypto, briefly ranking as the second-most trending token worldwide.
On December 14, trading volume surged past $1 billion in a single day, while the ADA price jumped 33% over 24 hours. That kind of activity usually takes weeks or months to build. For NIGHT, it happened almost instantly.
What stood out even more was what happened on-chain. Cardano DRep Jaromir Tesar shared data showing that NIGHT recorded around $6.7 million in trading volume across Cardano-based decentralized exchanges in just 24 hours.
For Cardano, this is a major milestone. Historically, DEX liquidity on the network has lagged behind ecosystems like Ethereum, making this spike especially notable.
What makes this even more striking is when it happened. The surge came over the weekend, when markets are usually quiet and order books thin out.
Seeing that kind of volume during the slowest part of the week points to people actually showing up and trading, not just chasing a headline and disappearing a few hours later.
Hoskinson highlighted this point directly, saying that Midnight’s rollout marks the first time Cardano has seen such significant DEX volume immediately following a token launch.
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In his view, this is not just about one project performing well. It is a signal that the broader ecosystem is maturing and starting to function the way it was designed to.
Midnight’s early performance also changes the narrative around Cardano’s decentralized finance activity. Seeing a native token drive meaningful on-chain volume so quickly challenges the idea that Cardano lacks real usage. While it is still early, the data shows that users are engaging, trading, and providing liquidity at a scale the network has rarely experienced.
For now, NIGHT’s launch stands as a clear win for Cardano (ADA). Whether this momentum holds will depend on how the project develops from here, but the opening chapter has already made history.
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