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Starknet Airdrop Sees User Count Drop As Controversy Continues
- Starknet, a Layer 2 blockchain solution for Ethereum, has become entangled in controversy.
- The network released its native token earlier this week, however several in the community felt the distribution schedule shunned many deserving members.
- The primary criticism was a criterion that required users to have a balance of 0.05 ETH to be eligible for the airdrop.
- Starknet’s active users have dropped by more than half since last week, while the price of STRK is stumbling at under USD $2.
The Starknet launch earlier this week didn’t go according to plan. The Layer 2 blockchain has seen serious hype building since the start of 2024, with the network sporting impressive user activity despite lacking a native utility token. With the announcement and pending airdrop of the project’s key coin – STRK – many in the community were excited about its day-one potential. And while there’s a long way to go, both in terms of development and market reaction, the initial release has been controversial from all sides.
Starknet Users Claim Airdrop Criteria Overlooked Loyal Community
The airdrop, carried out on February 20, required participants to meet certain eligibility criteria. Approximately 700M STRK was to be distributed among developers, blockchain users and Ethereum stakers on the network.
In theory, this allocation sounds reasonable enough. But certain nitpicky criteria made it a whole lot more complex than it needed to be. For example, Starknet made the decision to reward developers based on their GitHub work – regardless if they participated in the actual blockchain or not. Because of this, an airdrop participant received an absurd 1,800 STRK (valued at over AUD $5K) for fixing a single typo on a GitHub repository.
Even more controversial was the snubbing of active community members, with several complaining that despite contributing thousands of dollars to the ecosystem, they missed out on the airdrop due to wallet balances below 0.005ETH.
Starknet scrambled to address the problems as their once-loyal community flocked away from the blockchain. The active account numbers have more than halved since last week according to Starkscan, now sitting at below 90K after peaking above 220K.’
In an Unchained interview on YouTube, CEO of Starkware Eli Ben-Sasson addressed the concerns by stating that when distributing to hundreds of thousands of wallets, you simply must create some specific criteria to ensure most value is distributed fairly. Unfortunately, in such a large airdrop, some are going to slip through the cracks.
However, he emphasised that “We are listening very intently…this was the first round of Provisions and the Foundation has already stated that it’s not going to be the last one”.
Meanwhile, the price of STRK has fallen from its initial high of USD $3 (AUD $4.58) to under USD $2 (AUD $3.05).
Author
Ben Knight
Ben Knight is a writer and editor from Melbourne with a passion for all things music and finance. He enjoys turning complex topics – especially the technical details of cryptocurrency – into digestible bites that anybody can understand. He acquired his Master’s in Writing, Editing and Publishing from RMIT in 2019 and has run his own creative writing business ever since.
