Starknet Blockchain Plans Much-Awaited Airdrop of New STRK Tokens Next Week
The airdrop will happen on Feb. 20, and eligible users have until June 20 to claim their tokens
Feb 14, 2024 at 7:57 a.m. UTC:format(webp)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/coindesk/HGKVDIORCRDTXD2E3C6W443JO4.jpeg)
/arc-photo-coindesk/arc2-prod/public/LXF2COBSKBCNHNRE3WTK2BZ7GE.png)
Starknet Foundation announced on Wednesday that STRK, the native token for the Ethereum layer-2 blockchain Starknet, will be airdropped on Feb. 20, with roughly 1.3 million wallets eligible to receive it.
According to the foundation, there are several types of users that qualify for the 728 million token airdrop – or as the foundation terms the giveaways, “provisions” – and they have until June 20 to claim the tokens.
Starknet is a layer-2 blockchain that makes use of zero-knowledge cryptography. The long awaited arrival of the STRK token will be used to fuel “community participation and project governance,” Starknet Foundation said in a press release seen by CoinDesk.
"Provisions celebrates our community's hard work in showing how we can and should scale Ethereum for mass adoption,” Diego Olivia, CEO of Starknet Foundation, said in the press release.
The qualifications for the STRK airdrop are mainly divided into three groups: Starknet users, developers and contributors to the ecosystem; Ethereum builders and stakers, and non-Web3 open-source developers.
The scope of those who qualify are unusual for an airdrop given that groups outside of the immediate Starknet ecosystem are eligible, with Ethereum solo-stakers and liquid staking token users falling in these categories. The foundation attributes their eligibility to the fact that Starknet is secured by Ethereum.
Furthermore, non-blockchain open-source developers are eligible for STRK tokens, making it the first airdrop that non-Web3 users can qualify for, according to an infographic. The foundation added that its aim with this is “to set a new precedent in inclusivity.”
The foundation also mentioned that for those who didn't qualify for this airdrop, “there will be further provisions in the future,” meaning there will be more airdrops.
“We see how much attention this is bringing to Starknet and we’re flattered,” Eli Ben-Sasson, who sits on the board of the Starknet Foundation and is the CEO of StarkWare, the primary developer firm behind Starknet, said in the press release.
:format(webp)/s3.amazonaws.com/arc-authors/coindesk/7dc71a1a-5122-47cc-9bbf-82501f65b060.png)
Margaux Nijkerk reports on the Ethereum protocol and L2s. A graduate of Johns Hopkins and Emory universities, she has a masters in International Affairs & Economics. She holds a small amount of ETH and other altcoins.