Starknet Foundation Allocates 50 Million STRK Tokens to Early Community Members

By 0xK2 10/31/23 1:56 AM

On October 30, Starknet Foundation made an exciting announcement, revealing its plan to distribute approximately 50 million STRK tokens as part of the Early Community Member Program (ECMP). This move aims to incentivize and recognize the efforts of early contributors to the Starknet ecosystem.

Starknet Foundation, established in November 2022, was born from the minds behind StarkWare, creators of StarkNet. However, despite the initial minting of a substantial 10 billion STRK tokens, the Layer 2 project has yet to be made fully tradable, with token transfers expected to remain locked until at least April of the following year.

Announcing the Starknet Early Community Member Program (ECMP)

1/ Today, we’re excited to announce the introduction of the ECMP, a program dedicated to recognizing the various pillars of our community that have contributed to Starknet to date.https://t.co/1otPM9oymS

— Starknet Foundation (@StarknetFndn) October 30, 2023

In its latest endeavor, Starknet has decided to allocate tokens to reward and motivate developers and contributors who have played a pivotal role in building and expanding the network. According to a blog post by Starknet, the program seeks to grant STRK tokens to those who have made “significant contributions to technological ideas,” participated in vital ecosystem projects, organized events, and regularly shared content related to Starknet. The registration process will remain open until November 19, and the list of recipients is scheduled to be finalized by December 29.

The Starknet Foundation holds 50.1% of the original token supply (10 billion STRK), amounting to approximately 5 billion STRK tokens. As these tokens have not yet been listed on exchanges, the exact valuation of this asset remains uncertain.

Until that time, the anticipated reward funds are expected to assist Starknet in developing and maintaining its community. In addition to Starknet, other Layer 2 competitors such as Arbitrum and Optimism have also deployed community incentive programs.

“Starknet Foundation acknowledges the crucial role of the Starknet community,” the organization wrote in its blog post. According to L2Beat data, Starknet ranks as the sixth-largest Layer 2 blockchain with a Total Value Locked (TVL) of approximately $143 million. Originally developed by StarkWare, the network subsequently transitioned certain responsibilities to Starknet Foundation with a mission to “build a thriving Starknet.”

The organization is overseen by a council of seven members, including Eli Ben-Sasson, the Co-Founder and Chairman of StarkWare. Starknet Foundation’s mission is to promote the Starknet community of users, developers, and researchers while continuously monitoring the network’s growth.

The initial token supply of 10 billion tokens was “minted off-chain” by StarkWare. Approximately 17% of this supply was allocated to investors, 32.9% to “core contributors,” including StarkWare employees and advisors, and the largest share of 50.1% was designated for Starknet Foundation.