Midnight Token Drops 35% as 515M NIGHT Transfer Linked to Wanchain Bridge Shakes Market

The Midnight ecosystem faced intense scrutiny after a massive NIGHT token transfer sparked a sharp sell‑off, causing the token’s price to tumble.

On‑chain analysis shows that a Wanchain bridge contract, initially funded in December 2025, transferred 515.2 million NIGHT tokens — the native token of Cardano’s partner chain Midnight — within eight minutes.

Although the contract also contained other liquid assets such as Mynth, XER, and WMT, only NIGHT tokens were withdrawn, indicating a focused attack on that asset.

On‑Chain Investigation Uncovers Transfer Pattern

In an X thread, Cardano community investigator UTxOMaestro disclosed that the 515.2 million NIGHT tokens were received from the Wanchain bridge via four distinct transfers: 203.0 million, 129.6 million, 120.4 million, and 62.1 million.

All four transfers landed in a single wallet between 14:46 UTC and 14:55 UTC on July 20, 2026, indicating that Wallets 1 (W1) and 2 (W2) were probably controlled by the same actor.

Analysis indicates that W1 initially transferred 1,000 ADA to W2, then sent 200.06 million NIGHT. Subsequently, W2 returned 100.31 million NIGHT together with ADA and USDCx, supporting the view that the two wallets were under common control.

Approximately 300 Million NIGHT Traded on DEX Platforms

Following receipt of the tokens, W1 promptly began selling NIGHT on decentralized exchanges. Early estimates suggest that roughly 300 million NIGHT were sold, triggering an initial price decline of nearly 50%.

Further blockchain analysis confirmed several swaps: 217.7 million NIGHT were exchanged for about 24.02 million ADA, and 87.88 million NIGHT were swapped for roughly 1.44 million USDCx.

Despite a large portion of the tokens entering the market, the liquidation was incomplete. Investigators noted that W1 transferred 200 million NIGHT to W2, and at the time of analysis W2 had sold only a fraction of those holdings, leaving a considerable amount of NIGHT unsold and posing potential additional selling pressure.

Instead of liquidating all holdings, W2 employed a different approach: it deposited roughly 68.27 million NIGHT into the Liqwid lending protocol as collateral, borrowed about 4.364 million ADA against that collateral, and transferred the borrowed ADA back to W1.

Midnight Foundation Issues Statement

In response to growing community concerns, the Midnight Foundation released an official statement clarifying that the Midnight blockchain itself had not been compromised.

The foundation stated that the incident was confined to the Wanchain Cardano‑BNB bridge, a third‑party cross‑chain infrastructure.

Midnight’s protocol, validator network, consensus mechanism, and core infrastructure continue to operate normally and remain secure.

Based on the latest findings, the foundation sees no evidence that the incident has compromised the security or operational integrity of the Midnight network.

NIGHT Faces Continued Downward Pressure Despite modest Recovery

The large‑scale selling caused intense volatility in the NIGHT market. Earlier in the day, the token reached an intraday high of $0.02689 before plunging to a low of $0.01582 as on‑chain selling intensified.

At press time, NIGHT was down 35.12% over the past 24 hours, trading at $0.0174, with daily volume surging 798% to $125.96 million.

Although NIGHT has staged a modest recovery from its lows, analysts warn that the remaining unsold holdings create a significant overhang, and if those tokens are eventually sold they could further weigh on the price in the near term.

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